Dannika surveyed her apartment one last time telling the manager that she was leaving the furniture and didn't know if she would be back. She had explained that she had a great-aunt who was very sick, and she was the only family the woman had so she was leaving to take care of her.
Dannika left the story at that remembering Aaron's advice about not elaborating and making it too complicated, because you could forget details that way.
She had already told her boss that she had to leave for unknown length of time because of great-aunt was sick and needed her.
Her boss had immediately granted her the sick leave and said that to let him know if she needed to use her vacation as well.
Dannika had been very vague and telling her boss the story that she and Aaron had talked about before Aaron had left town. Aaron was waiting on her in Helsinki, which is where he had bought his new car. He hadn't wanted to go to far away in case she needed him for anything and Dannika understood that. She and Aaron had made love just that one time before putting their plan into action and Aaron had explained that consistency mattered when it came to turning someone immortal and so it was better, if they didn't make love again until they were back together and settled somewhere away from prying eyes.
Dannika hadn't exactly been happy with that, but Aaron knew more about being immortal than she did so she had to accept his explanation at face value.
Dannika did a full walk-through of her apartment, making sure she or Aaron hadn't left anything, checking in drawers and under the bed before finally left closing the door behind her.
This part of her life was ended, and she couldn't wait to rejoin Aaron in Helsinki, and from there they would head back to New York, where he was living.
The two of them talked every day, and Dannika had already told him that she would be on her way soon, and Aaron was eagerly anticipating her arrival. Aaron had made it quite clear that he didn't like being separated from her, as he'd already had to do that once, but also knew it was necessary and so didn't complain too much.
Dannika agreed with Aaron about hating being separated, and she never believed she would say that about any man, but Aaron had proven her wrong on several occasions, just in their short acquaintance.
She was really looking forward to her and Aaron's life together as she loved him so deeply, she knew it would never fade.
Some of her coworkers had already wished her farewell and told her they hoped her aunt got better, but since Dannika didn't have an aunt the likelihood of that was zero. Coworkers had also said that they hoped to see her back at work soon and Dannika hadn't responded. They had quit asking when she would be back after awhile likely assuming that she didn't know for how long her aunt would need her.
Dannika pushed the elevator button and went inside as soon as the door opened with a bag slung over her shoulder with her clothes for a few days and also a couple of suitcases. She never gave her apartment door a glance, as the elevator door closed blocking her view.
Dannika finally reached the first floor and stepped out of the elevator with her bag and suitcases, and a man who also lived in the building offered to help her with her bags.
"I heard you were leaving us, Miss Petska and hope your aunt gets better soon," the man said.
"Thank you, Charles," Dannika said smiling a little. "I was sorry to give up my apartment, but I have no idea how long I'll be gone, as my aunt is very sick. I had better getting going though, as she is expecting me and it's a long drive."
"Of course, Miss Petska," Charles agreed, as he helped her with her luggage and got it into the trunk of her car.
"It was nice knowing you Charles. Goodbye," Dannika told him before getting into the driver seat, the door closing automatically as soon as she was inside.
Charles watched as Dannika Petska drove away from the apartment building and merged into the sky traffic, so that soon the car was out of sight.
Charles had a feeling he wouldn't be seeing her again and he didn't know why he felt that way. Finally, Charles turned away and hit it back inside the apartment building.
~~~Aaron and Dannika~~~
Epilogue
Dannika finally arrived in Helsinki just after darkness had fallen. She had stopped for lunch and to fuel up her car, but hadn't stopped again, as she wanted to get here as fast as possible. She was starving though, as it was after 7 o'clock.
Aaron and her could go to dinner once she got to the hotel where he was staying at. One with a nice large bed he had promised her when they had talked just this morning.
Aaron had also said that he had told the lady at the front desk that his wife would be joining him and sent her right up his when she arrived. Dannika blushed, as she well remembered Aaron telling her that, mostly because there was nothing she wanted more than to be his wife so it was only a small white lie so that whoever was at the front desk when she arrived wouldn't think she was some kind of whore. What Aaron had told the person at the front desk that had probably saved her a lot of gossip and disgusted or disapproving looks, as people could be very judgmental, whether or not it was their business, even at a high class hotel that Aaron had gotten a room at. Aaron had happened to mention that at cheaper places, the people minded their own business, so telling the person at the front desk that she was his wife would make it easier on both of them.
Dannika parked her car in the parking lot at the hotel Aaron had chosen the same one he had stayed in when he'd been gone for a month.
Dannika didn't bother to check in with the person at the front desk to get Aaron's room number and all that hoopla, as he had told her what room he was in. She simply took the elevator up to his floor and was knocking on his door in just a couple of minutes.
The door was immediately flung open, and Aaron had Dannika in his arms, kissing her passionately, and then dragging her into his room and shutting the door as soon as she was clear of the doorway.
"Well, I see you're happy to see me," Dannika teased him lightheartedly, as her spirits immediately rose at seeing Aaron's face for the first time in a month.
"More than I can, express in words," Aaron said, simply, even as he continued to hold Dannika close, kept kissing her face again and again. "We'll never have to be apart for so long again, but I am very happy that our time of separation is over. I about went insane, even though I talked to you every day and you told me everything that was happening back in Dupar Woods."
"I missed you too, though not as badly as you apparently missed me," Dannika told him with a serious expression.
"It's the bond," Aaron explained. "The bond is stronger on my end then on yours, because you're still human at least for right now. You'll feel the same intensity I do if we have to be separated for weeks at a time sometime in the future. Hopefully, that'll never happen, but you also never know. That this was the second separation in such a short time only made my feelings more intense. I mean, think about it. It's been less than a year since we met, and I had to be gone for weeks until the heat had died down only a little over six month ago. My heart and mind were in conflict during that time, as my heart wanted to be with you, but my brain kept telling me that I had to leave at least for awhile."
Dannika processed that then nodded. "I suppose that makes sense, but hopefully, we'll never have to be separated again for such a great length of time. Now, I hope you're hungry, because I'm starving, as I didn't want to stop for dinner so I hope you plan on feeding me. If I had decided to stop for dinner, I probably also would've gotten a hotel room for the night and wouldn't have seen you until tomorrow, so I didn't stop. I figured I could eat when I got here and that maybe you could join me for dinner if you hadn't already eaten that is. I figured I'd take a chance that you hadn't."
"Happy to," Aaron grinned, "so do you want to go somewhere or just order room service?"
"It doesn't really matter to me if we stay here and order room service, as I'm sure the food is good considering this is a 5 star place and not a cheap motel. We can go to bed directly afterwards," Dannika suggested with a wink and a smirk. "I certainly won't object if you want to make love to me that we are together again, but only after food, as I'm gonna need my energy, I'm sure."
"Room service it is," Aaron smirked, as he hurried over to the dresser where the menu was and handed it to Dannika. "Choose whatever you want and never mind the cost."
Dannika pursued the menu and made her choices and Aaron called room service to order their meals.
"Quite the feast," Aaron told her as soon as he had hung up the link.
"What can I say? I'm starving," Dannika told him. "I had lunch early when I stopped for fuel and that was just a sandwich. A very thin sandwich it's no wonder I'm starving now."
"It's fine with me. I was just teasing you," Aaron admitted, kissing the top of her head inhaling Dannika scent.
"I know you were," Dannika said poking Aaron in the stomach playfully.
"I can't wait to take you to bed, but that can wait till after we eat," Aaron said. "I am so glad you're finally here. We've only made love once because consistency until you immortal matters, which means at least once a day where I penetrate you and spurt my seed into you as I explained to you sometime ago. Besides, I didn't want to risk getting you pregnant until after we married."
"Can I even get pregnant before I'm immortal?" Dannika asked.
"I'm actually not sure about whether you can get pregnant or not while you're still mortal. I just didn't want to take the chance just in case, at least not where people knew you, as I didn't want you to be gossiped about or told it was wrong to have a child out of wedlock. I'll admit though that's common nowadays to have child without being married first, not like centuries ago," Aaron said. "Now that we're away from your hometown, though, nobody will ever know that you're pregnant before we marry, so if you happen to get pregnant, I won't mind at all and we'll just tell people we are married. We can do a ceremony at a Vegas chapel and let them provide the witnesses. Vegas is the capital for weddings, as it's so easy to get a marriage license there. Of course, if you want to go off planet then Alpha Omega is a good place to get married as well and it's just as easy to get a marriage license there."
Alpha Omega was an artificial planet that was a good place for weddings and it was also good for it's gambling.
"That might be the way to go," Dannika admitted, "but we'll talk about it later."
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Aaron immediately got up to go answer to it, and soon the waiter was coming in with his cart with several silver domes on it.
"Right there by the end table is fine," Aaron told the waiter politely. "My wife and I are really hungry so I'm glad that the kitchen fulfilled our orders so fast."
Aaron handed the man a tip and the waiter immediately placed the cart by the end table as instructed before leaving closing the door behind him.
"Well, let's see shall we?" Aaron suggested, as he started removing the silver domes from the food.
Dannika's palate was already salivating as the delicious smells that were circulating around the area from the serving cart.
"It sure does smell good," Dannika said as Aaron passed her, her plate. The serving cart served as a kind of table and was just the right height for them to eat comfortably and so they both dug in to the food they had ordered.
"It is really good, so I made a good choice," Dannika said after she had finished half her food.
"I haven't had a bad meal here yet, as I ate room service quite often while you were still in Dupar Woods, just because I didn't feel like going out. I didn't feel like being around a lot of people, though I won't say I was depressed, just not in the mood for company," said Aaron.
"I understand," Dannika said, putting a gentle hand on Aaron's arm.
"It doesn't really matter anymore, since we're back together now and I'll happily go out with you, anywhere you want to go. This is the start of our new life!" Aaron said, raising the flute of champagne as he had ordered a bottle along with the food in order to celebrate his mate being back at his side
"Here's to many children!" Dannika said, clinking her wine glass with her mates before taking a delicate sip.
"Now that is definitely a very joyous and happy thought," Aaron said his expression spreading into a mile wide grin. "I'm looking forward to having those children, but not quite yet."
"Yes, we need to get married first," Dannika said knowing what Aaron was thinking without having to ask.
If there was one thing she had learned about Aaron Hotchner was that in someways he was very old-fashioned, but considering how many centuries he had under his belt this was not surprising to Dannika.
She knew very well that morals and ethics had been different back when Aaron had been born so understood why he wanted to wait. She was also content to wait to have children. She was in no rush. She was just gonna enjoy being back with Aaron and if she got pregnant before her wedding night, then she would accept what came and she knew Aaron would as well, even if he would prefer her not to get pregnant until they were officially married, but accidents did happen.
Dannika was very happy with her life ever since she had met one Aaron Hotchner, who was more unusual than she had expected, but really that just made like interesting.
Dannika and Aaron ate their meals chatting quietly and once they finished Aaron rose and put the serving cart outside the door to be picked up and then he came back and led Dannika to the bedroom.
Dannika undressed quickly and put her clothes on a chair before she climbed into the huge bed. Aaron also undressed swiftly, and climbed on top of her, kissing her all over her face as well as her neck.
"You have made my life so much better than it was. I am so glad you agreed to be mine, to marry me and have my children," Aaron told her sincerely after he had finished sucking on her breast.
"It was my pleasure, I promise you," Dannika told him once she had gotten her breath back from the sensual assault she had been under that had left her skin tingling pleasantly.
The two of them made love for several hours before Aaron rolled off her, only to curl up beside her and put his arm around her protectively.
"We might as well get some sleep. I'll get the rest of your bags out of your car in the morning," Aaron said his voice, sleepy and satisfied.
Dannika didn't answer, as she had already drifted off to sleep, and Aaron soon joined her in dreamland with a smile on his face.
