Fear of Fallling

[Lucas]

Lucas heard Aria get out of the bathroom and then the rustle of clothing. Normally, he would have turned around to enjoy the show. But there was plenty of time for that. And it was peaceful and quiet here in the mountains. The crackle and pop of the would occasionally punctured the silence and the flicker of the flame was hypnotizing.

He felt her press herself against him and the softness of her face and the damp of her hair against his neck, her arms around his chest. He put one hand against hers to hold her to him. He felt a stirring and was about to act when she spoke. At her words, it died, though, as his heart fell. He hadn't really asked what this trip was about and it now filled him with unease.

"Why," he said softly."
The flames filled his blue ice gaze.

[Aria]

Aria was sad when Lucas' mood sank because of her words. She kissed his neck softly. "Tomorrow will suck because I won't be here with you. I'll be hiking in the freezing cold examining a place that no longer exists because a man decided for some reason or other that it should be blown up with his power."
She smiled softly against his neck. "You get to stay here in the nice warm hotel, playing with fire and eating fine food. I get Nox's company, a bunch of dogs and a man who speaks a dialect of Russian I have to really think my way through because it's one of those sub language things known only to this region."


He turned his head so that he was looking at her. His eyes were seemed to glow with inner fire, as if they had been absorbing the heat from the flames he had been staring it. "I didn't come here to spend the day in a hotel. I came to be with you. And that's where I'll be."


Aria pulled back only a little. She smiled, "You want to trek through the wilderness to go stand in the freezing cold and do nothing but let me feel what happened there?"


His eyes didn't change but they did become warmer with his smile. "You got it."


Aria laughed, "You are a strange man Lucas. Nox would get out of it if he could."
She sighed, "With you coming along now there is a fat chance I'd let him stay behind."
Aria kissed Lucas softly. "If that's what you want to do, it's fine by me. But it'll be cold and boring."


His eyes were still fire but they seemed to change, as if smoldering. He turned and pulled her so that she was now firmly in his lap. "Nox doesn't have the reasons that I do."
The blue fire continue to burn into her. The room was silent, to the point stillness. Only their breathing and the crack and hiss of the fire could be heard. And then he whispered but his whisper was filled with raw heat. "I am here for a reason."
And he kissed her as deeply as he knew how.

Aria melted into Lucas and kissed him back, letting a soft moan escape before she could regain any sense of herself. She whispered with what little breath she had left, "And that reason is?"


His eyebrow quirked as he smiled enigmatically at her. His gaze wandered over her face and paused as they rested on her eyes. She saw the fire there, but more than that. She saw tenderness. "Because I love you,"
he said simply. And then he kissed her again. Only he didn't stop.