All news about sequels and spin offs at the end of this never ending chapter.

For the first time in a long time, Keely felt utterly relaxed and blissfully happy. The last moment she could truly remember having the same sensation, the one where her body felt lax with sheer contentment, was all the way back in a hotel room in California.

Seth had been reading that excerpt from a Victor Hugo poem to her in French while she’d curled against his body, simply listening to his voice since she could understand none of the words and loving the way she could feel the words rumble from his chest and every breath he took with her cheek pressed against his chest. Thinking about in that way, Keely couldn’t help but think she almost sounded like a Police song, and mentally made a note to never tell him about it.

But she was still feeling that wonderful isolation from the rest of the world in that moment.

With her cheek pressed against the soft pillow case on the motel’s bed, she stared straight across the bed to where Seth was lying on his side as well, just a touch away from her.

In moments like that she had to think there was something about her and motel rooms, maybe her, Seth and motel rooms, or – rather – maybe it was her, Seth, motel rooms and beds. She wasn’t sure. But it felt like the only things that existed in their world – at least at that moment – was the two of them.

Burying slightly deeper into the bed, Keely felt a soft smile touch her lips as she reached across, bridging the distance between them as she brushed a lock of his messy hair away from his forehead. Because she could do that now, whenever she wanted she could reach out and touch him for no other reason than wanting to touch him. The knowledge of that made her have the contradictory feeling of giddiness and simple acceptance all at once.

Yet, what else were they but contradictions?

“Have you…” she paused, biting her lip as she tried to think of a question she’d like to ask him. It was odd, she’d thought of a million things to ask him in the time they’d been separated, yet at that moment when she was so close and could ask anything she wanted, she pulled a blank. “… ever had a dog?”

The moment the question was out of her mouth, Seth laughed loudly, rolling onto his back. “Shut up,” she complained, hitting him on the chest with the heel of her hand.

Still chuckling, he rolled back over, the gold in his eyes sparkling beneath the dim light of the lamp across the room. “Seriously, rebel? Out of all the questions in the world, you ask me that?”

“Yes,” Keely told him stubbornly, refusing to blush under his gaze. “Now answer the damn question.”

“Alright,” Seth replied with a roll of his eyes, but his voice was still trembling with laughter. “No, I never had a dog, always wanted one though. We moved around too much when I was young, and Jack didn’t like dogs. And now it just wouldn’t be fair to have one with touring and recording and all, not enough time for it.”

Staying quiet because she knew he didn’t want to hear her say she was sorry for the way he’d grown up, he knew she was, silence was enough. So she simply continued to look at him, finally realizing she’d never taken her hand away from his smoothly muscled chest. Chewing on the inside of her lip, she regretfully pulled her hand away and rested it beneath her cheek against the pillow.

As he stared thoughtfully back, obviously pondering his question to ask, Keely allowed her eyes to dip down, not feeling embarrassed about it any longer. How many times had she admired the indentations and muscles that graced his chest but had quickly looked away as to not get caught? She could do that without any shame now, and it was suddenly the most normal of actions for her to reach out and touch him. Even then she wanted to run her hand over his chest, but held herself back. Keely didn’t want to inflate his ego that much.

However she didn’t know how long she was going to be holding back… after all, he was sexy and she wasn’t denying that.

“Did you mean to imitate the intro for From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah during Times Again when we were helping you prepare for the Chrome Palace gig?” he asked smirking at her, quickly washing away her other thoughts. “I never heard any words, just shouting the entire time. I mean, it’s awesome when Kurt did it, but he did it on purpose.”

“Hey!” she protested, punching him in the shoulder as she scowled at him. “That was the first time I actually tried shouting and that was the first time I actually sang the song like a grunge song. Time to cut a little slack.”

The smirk not disappearing, Seth responded, “Don’t worry. You got a billion times better.”

And her scowl did not disappear either. “You’re an ass.”

At her proclamation, Seth burst out laughing again, making her force herself to keep the scowl on her face. She liked this, the smiling and the laughing from him.

Filling in the space between them, Seth pressed his lips against hers as if it was the most natural thing in the world and instantly that scowl was gone. Yeah, she didn’t have enough willpower to stop that.

Reacting on instinct, she wrapped her arm around him in order to pull herself closer, that playful tone that the kiss had started as already vanishing with the seconds that passed, the kiss becoming deeper than intended. When she’d been about to wrap her leg around him, squishing those lasts wisps of air still felt between them, Seth rolled them over, moving his hands to either side of her head so he balanced over her, pressing the lower half of his body against hers.

It was finally she who broke off the kiss that was becoming more intense by the moment, gasping for breath as she arched her back slightly.

Instead of doing the same as her, he moved along, kissing down her neck and making a clear shiver run through her body when his teeth brushed the delicate skin at the base of her neck.

“I hate you,” Keely informed him stoically, forcing herself to remember – with great difficulty – what they’d been talking about before he so cheatingly – and rather successfully – managed to distract her.

That made him chuckled again as he brought his head up, meeting her gaze with those smouldering eyes that seemed to simply steal the air from her lungs. “You love me,” he countered smugly.

Rolling her eyes, she folded her lips against the smile that came on her. “I’m going to regret saying that.”

“I doubt that,” Seth returned cockily.

That time she wasn’t able to stop as she laughed aloud.

Grinning still, he fell back onto his back beside her, their arms touching, hauling in a deep and – unless she was very much mistaken – a strained breath. “Okay,” Seth began, rolling back to his side as she mirrored his action, closer this time than they’d been before, “This is my real question. Was this, I mean, being apart for two weeks, hard for you, or was it just normal?”

Dropping her gaze against his searching eyes, Keely gave a one shouldered shrug before she looked back to him, nothing but honesty written over her face. “It felt like two years,” she admitted softly, “Let’s never do that again, okay?”

“Agreed,” he said instantly, letting out a relieved sigh.

Swallowing, she readied herself for her next question, this time knowing for sure what it would be, his previous question setting the mood for one such as this. “When we were in Montgomery and you told me… you loved me –” her voice still held a note of wonderment as she said those words, it felt so odd coming from her mouth “– did you just realize it that night or did you know before.?”

That question had him instantly tensing, and he rolled onto his back, running his hands over his face. “Uh… I knew before,” he told her reluctantly.

Frowning at his tone, Keely propped herself onto her elbow in order to look down at him. There was no way she was going to let him go back to hiding things from her, not after everything they’d been through at this point. Not now. “When did you know?”

Pinching his nose, Seth closed his eyes, his face tipped to the ceiling as he sucked in a breath.

“Seth,” she pressed.

Blowing out a breath, he stared up at the ceiling, still not meeting her eyes. “I thought I was in love with you the first time I heard you sing, back in that record shop in New York when we were helping out Fred. You sang Help from the Beatles.”

Her frown melted away until there was nothing but bewilderment showering her face. “No…” she protested slowly, “We’d barely even talked to each other then.”

Finally he turned his head so he was looking up at her. “Why do you think I all the sudden I was the only person available to help you produce your album? I got Marco and Colton to say they were busy, it wasn’t exactly easy. You actually bought that excuse about Colton having to me his accountant because he’d left his taxes too late? The guy practically irons his socks, he leaves nothing too late.”

Her stomach felt tight, although she couldn’t make out what emotion was causing it. “Seth,” she repeated, this time a tad warningly.

With a sigh he turned his eyes back up to the roof. “I guess you were right though, I wasn’t in love with you, I pretty much had this unhealthy obsession with your voice. So I more or less forced myself into that studio. But when we went to that old club, and we actually wrote something together, it was different. I knew it.

“But, even then, I was still more in love with your voice than you,” he admitted, changing his gaze to meet her eyes again. “That changed though, spending so much time with you, I was utterly and completely in love with you in weeks, probably by the end of two weeks. I liked your attitude about music, your taste, the fact that you weren’t afraid to call me out for being an asshole, and that when you smile it starts in your eyes first. There are a million things, rebel. I could go on, but I think I’m being cheesy enough.”

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Keely blinked back tears, shaking her head. “Ah…” she chuckled through her clogged throat, “I think you should just leave it there. Don’t want me to start thinking too much of myself.”

Silently Seth reached out, thumbing away a tear before it could fall down her cheek. At this point she was almost embarrassed, she despised crying. She’d been doing far too much of it lately, but this time it was different, not so bad. She wasn’t crying for a bad reason. Actually, it was for completely the opposite.

Sucking in a breath, Keely rolled over, making a careful amount of space between them.

“Keely,” Seth started, a mixture of apprehension and confusion in his voice.

Instead of getting off the bed as she was sure he was thinking she was about to do, Keely simply sat up, stretching over to the end table where she turned on the radio. Wincing slightly at the static that greeted her, she carefully tuned the dial until it had caught on to her favorite radio station in the city.

Taking the time where she had hidden her face, Keely started taking in deep calming breaths, holding herself together. And sure enough, by the time the commercial on the station was coming to end, she’d managed to get herself to a point that at the very least there were no longer tears, although her throat still felt constricted with her emotions. Rubbing her hands over her eyes, she turned back around, lying back down in her previous spot, curling her legs up tightly.

All of the sudden, she was very grateful for the fact that the radio was on, the beginning chords of a song starting. It at least took away some of the pressure. At that moment, Keely was sure she knew the song that was playing, yet staring back at Seth’s unsure eyes; she found she couldn’t remember it for the life of her.

“I’m okay,” she assured him softly underneath the music.

Still, he didn’t completely look sure.

To bring her point home, Keely shuffled closer so their noses were almost brushing, with a sigh, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, relaxing under the familiar scent. As much as bad as anything got, he was always the one there to save her. It just took her far too long to realize it.

Letting her eyes flicker open, she looked up into his golden eyes from beneath her dark lashes, a questioning expression gracing her face. “If you loved me from that point, why were you still such a jerk for so long?”

“Oh, thanks,” he replied sarcastically.

“You were an arrogant ass to me,” she pointed out.

With a sigh of his own, Seth reached out, tucking a lock of her fiery hair behind her ear, but he left his hand there, his hand resting against her neck and jaw while he ran his thumb over her cheek. The motion was driving her mad, and Keely could already feel her attention leaving her, but – with great difficulty – she remained focused.

“I loved you, but I hated you,” he explained slowly, as if trying to decide on the right words as he spoke. “Ever since I was a little kid, I was good at not feeling, because with the way I grew up, if you felt anything it would only end up hurting you. And when I first came to New York, Marco and Colton tried so hard to make me feel things, be a regular person; I was so far away from my mom and Jack. But I never felt anything but… hatred, I guess.

“I could play music I liked, but hearing NSR on the radio and playing their music only cancelled that out. There were the girls, but I never felt anything with them. So, I closed off more, and I was so thankful to be able to.

“And all the sudden you came in, and you had me feeling things I’d thought I’d never be able to, I thought I’d been too fucked to ever feel anything like that. I resented you so much, for being able to play the music you wanted to, not being forced into what I’d been, for making me feel something when I’d spent my whole life trying to not feel a thing.”

Gulping, Keely felt renewed tears pressing against her eyes, but she valiantly held them in. “Oh,” she managed in a choked voice.

“I’m fucked beyond repair,” Seth decided, giving an almost half shrug, as if he was trying to pass it out, like it didn’t matter. Like it didn’t matter that he’d had been so scarred by a childhood no one deserved that he didn’t want to let himself feel.

“Seth,” she said gently.

Almost as if he’d planned it, Seth just kept running his thumb along her cheek before joining into the song. His voice was still a little on the raspy side from the show that night, but it made shivers run up her spine as he sang it so low, it was for her ears only.

“Well I ain’t no trouble maker. And I never meant her harm. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t make it hard to carry on,” he sang, his eyes not leaving hers once during the entire time. She didn’t dare to blink in case she missed anything, though she did finally remember the song went by the name of Shadow Days. “Well it sucks to be honest, And it hurts to be real. But it nice to make some love that I can finally feel. Hard times let me be.”

Feeling an overwhelming sensation of tenderness overpower her, Keely bit her bottom lip as she remained entranced in him. A part of her wanted to reach out and kiss him, but she didn’t dare stop him in the middle of the song, it was like magic to her. Instead she settled for reaching up and resting her hand gently on his where it remained along her jawline.

“I’m a good man, with a good heart. Had a tough time, got a rough start. But I finally learned to let it go. Now I’m right here, and I’m right now. And I’m open, knowing somehow. My shadow days are over. My shadow days are over now.”

After that chorus, he stopped singing, but Keely remained lying in place, content just to be lost in his gaze. Despite singing along to the John Mayer song, she couldn’t help but wonder how much he actually believed in what he’d been singing to her, at least during the chorus. Those deep set issues he had, they couldn’t just disappear, and as much as she hated to believe it, she knew he had an unhealthy amount of self-loathing and shame when it came to himself.

“When did you know?” Seth questioned her after a long moment passed.

There was no need for him to explain his question; Keely knew what he was asking as she turned her head up to look at the ceiling, his hand slipping down to rest on her neck with the motion. “I finally figured it out at my record release party, though I bet I’d actually been in love with you for a long time, I was just too much of a coward to come to terms with it until then. It made me throw up.”

“What?” he gave a soft laugh.

Pursing her lips, she twisted her head around so she could look at him, drinking in every plane of his handsome face, from those entrancing eyes all the way down to his strong chin. “I was scared, I’m still bloody terrified,” she admitted, “Of this, I mean. Of everything, I guess. Me and you; together, it terrifies me, Seth.”

Seeing that confused, almost hurt look, flickering over his face, she instantly felt a stab of guilt in her stomach. “But I want this, so much. And the things really worth having don’t come easy. This hasn’t come easy.”

Feeling relieved she’d finally been able to tell him that, Keely let out a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. But all too soon, she was opening her eyes again. She’d have liked to stay there, just talking to him for the foreseeable future.

Moving her head, she pressed her cheek into his hand, smiling gently at him.

“I’ve got to go,” she whispered regretfully.

Seth blinked in confusion, asking, “What, why?”

Giving a light laugh, she pulled his hand away from her cheek before pushing up on the bed and straightening her jeans before dragging her legs over the side of the bed. “We’re not in New York,” she told him, “I’m living at home for the moment. My dad is already going to be furious with me.”

Rolling onto his back, Seth rested his hands behind his neck, baring his bare chest to the room casually. It was hard for her to pull her eyes away from the smooth muscles, biting her lip, but she took her time, reminding herself that she could see that whenever she wanted to now. “You’re eighteen,” he pointed out.

“And my dad still thinks of me like I’m thirteen half the time,” she responded, leaning across the bed. Keely pressed a soft, chaste kiss onto his mouth, tucking her hair behind her ears.

Instantly Seth’s hands reached up, but she pulled away, shoving herself up to her feet before he could get a hold of her. If he did, Keely had her doubts that’d she’d be able to force herself to leave.

“We didn’t do anything,” Seth pointed out as he propped himself up.

Shrugging she slipped on her shoes, snagging her jacket up from where they’d left it back by the door. “Like he’s going to believe that,” she answered with a snort, “I went running away in the middle of the night to a motel to go tell a guy I love him and I’ve been gone for five hours. It’s a wonder he isn’t searching the city with a shotgun.”

Frowning he moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his sweatpants dipping low beneath those sexy hipbones. “Is he really that protective?” he asked, running a hand through his hair, making it stick up in all different directions.

“Well, not really, we’re not exactly the Brady Bunch. But he still kind of hates Tony with a passion,” Keely replied, slipping her jacket over her shoulders.