Gunner returned Bree's kiss softly, his eyes falling shut as she ran her fingers lightly over his face. Her question didn't surprise him, but he could feel his inner walls rising anyway. He didn't want her to worry, but he wasn't sure he was ready to talk yet either. 
Ignoring her question, he rolls onto his back, taking Bree with him so she was lying on top of him. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand bringing her head close so he could press his lips to hers again. Kissing her with passion, his fingers raked through her hair, while his other hand gently ran up and down her back.
"I need a vacation." Reese leaned back in the couch and 
took a sip of iced tea before returning his glass to the coffee table. 
With his arm around Angelica, he sighed deeply, not really paying much 
attention to the B movie on television.
"When I was 
yelling at Gunner today, all of a sudden I felt like Carter, or Austin. I
 don't want to end up like them - unable to let go of control, and 
ordering people around because of stress. But I've already started." His
 hand rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly before he leaned over and 
kissed her head. "You're the only thing that keeps me sane anymore."
Things
 used to be so simple. Was it because the Elite was no longer in secret,
 or was it just because of growing responsibility, that now things 
seemed so complicated? Grinning, Reese gives Angelica a squeeze. "We 
should just run off together and let everybody back here fend for 
themselves for a while."
As Rosalyn looked up into Chad's eyes and heard his words, she could 
feel her stomach flip. No one - let alone a man - had ever said so many 
nice things to her, ever. It just never ended. His caring words never 
stopped. His kind intentions never ran out.
Sighing, 
she ran her hands down his arms to find his palms and linked her fingers
 with his. Her eyes found the ground in the small space between them. So
 much of this still felt like a dream. Still felt unreal. Still felt 
like something that wasn't supposed to happen to someone like her. Yet 
here Chad was, standing with her and reassuring her he wasn't going to 
leave her.
"You sound so serious when you talk about us," she commented softly. "It seems wonderful, the things you say, but..."
She
 finally looked back up at him again, her eyes filled with a mixture of 
sadness, hope, excitement and fear. It was as if with all the trouble 
they'd had, suddenly things weren't the same. There was no innocent 
flirting tonight. No rolling her eyes at his flowery speech or poetry. 
No playing hard to get. With the way her father was acting, it seemed 
there could be no casual dating - it was either serious or nothing at 
all.  
"The end of time is a long time," she finally 
finished. Her voice was still quiet - almost timid. "Are we...are 
you...really that serious? After knowing me for such a short time?" She searched his eyes for answers. "I like you a lot, Chad, but...when you talk about forever...I'm not sure what you mean." 















