I love you

More than all the stars,

Wide as any valley,

My love for you

Is taller than any mountain

Deeper than any ocean

Higher than the moon,

My love for you does not stop at why or how

It exists unconditionally for you.

Like a camera zooming in from above, Lucas stood at the very edge of a cliff. Waves from the ocean below crashed against the rocks below with intensity and sprayed water into the air and onto his face. He rubbed the saltiness away as he looked at the widespread endlessness of stars above him. The wind howled a melody too high for audible words. A shot of thunder grumbled out causing him to cower down and cover his ears.

Once he removed his hands and sat up, Lucas looked to the right. Causing him to jump, a woman dressed in all white swayed with the rushing wind. Her dark hair flew in every direction blocking her face. She danced with a gentle, but steady rhythm. Her dress swayed with the rhythm of the wind.

The camera locked on the full length of them two of them. Lucas watched with interest as she didn't seem to realize he had been standing there. He went to step forward but stopped abruptly when she looked at him. Their eyes met and he instantly knew her. The love of his life. He reached his arm out to her longing for her touch. A simple brush of her skin had the power to freeze his beating heart, but also accelerate it at unhealthy speed. He longed so deeply to hold her and feel her fingers dancing up and down his arms.

As lightning spreaded its long and skinny fingers across the sky, the light shone on her face. She continued staring deep and penetrating at him. She had no emotion on her face, but it had been very obvious she had been studying him. He moved closer to her and she took one step away. He took another step and she did the same thing as she did before. He went to tell her to stop, but nothing audible came out. He tried to clear his throat and speak once more, but nothing happened.

Frustrated, he lounged at her and succeeded in making contact. While she fought valiantly, he pulled her into his arms. He enveloped her and after giving an epic fight, she rested her head on his chest. Lucas's eyes closed as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Rain began to slowly fall. He didn't care. He had his love in his arms and nothing would ruin that.

Another trigger of thunder went off springing Lucas's eyes wide open and they shot downwards. Kate had released her grip looking full of disapproval and disappointment. Lucas brought his eyes back to him to see his hands and arms slowly disappearing. He began panicking as the eraser elminated his entire arm. He brought his eyes back up to see if she could help, but she had made several steps back. In fact, she stood on the other side of the bluff stepping over the edge.

Lucas eye brows shot up and he hastily intended to move toward, but nothing happened. He found a tightly thick rope wrapped around his legs. He quickly tried to loosen their grasp, but kept looking up to see what Kate had been doing. Her eyes were fully focused on him, but she kept leaning backwards as if she had planned to let herself fall off the cliff. Lucas finally freed himself and stepped closer when lightening lit up the sky. Comets began to dance across the dark sky. Kate took the final step off the cliff as she blew him a kiss. Lucas finally had been able to let out a deafening wail.

Ava Joy lied nestled in her Aunt Haley's warm arms with her head nestled on her chest. She watched her daddy stirring in his sleep. His arms and legs thrashed as his neck rolled from one side to the other. She went to sit up, but he called the name of her mommy over and over in slightly louder then a mumble. She blinked the tears away and they streaked down her face. She sniffled softly causing her aunt to jump and look down at her.

"I didn't know you were awake, sweet girl." Haley spoke softly racing her fingers through the little girl's dark hair.

Ava Joy barely nodded with her eyes transfixed on her daddy. She really did not want to see him like this, but she couldn't keep her eyes closed either.

"Why does daddy do that?" her voice shaking caused both Haley and Nathan on the lazy boy across from them hearts to ripple with emotion.

"Well, love, sometimes daddy takes the to take big medicine for his leg and it causes him to talk in his sleep. Like Jamie did that one time, remember?"

The memory of a sleeping Jamie talking about the prettiest ballerina flashed before Ava Joy's mind. She almost felt tempted to giggle, but stopped right after Lucas sat up quickly and yelled something incoherent. Nathan sprung out of his seat and bent over to push his brother back down, but had been met with strong opposition.

"Lucas, you need to lie down." he attempted to speak to the sleeping giant.

"I killed her, man." Lucas spoke flatly. "I let her die."

Nathan continued to push his brother to lie back down. Finally, Lucas's solid body crumbled and he lied back down.

"When Jamie did it, it was funny. But when daddy does it, it's not funny. It's never funny." the little alleged a secret no one had known including her daddy.

Nathan and Haley looked at each other with eye brows raised with concern. Haley brought her fingers to turn Ava Joy's head.

The little girl refused to look at her, "Ava Joy, baby, look at me."

When the little girl did manage to look up at Haley, it pierced right through her heart. "Have you seen daddy like this before, sweet girl?"

Ava Joy looked back at her daddy. His constant movements had slowed down but he still mumbled. She took a long shaky breath, looked past her uncle's warm eyes, and out the window.

"All the time."