I sit up in bed quickly, my heart beginning to pick up its pace slightly.

"Xander has never been this quiet for this long." I snap my head towards Octavius, who is groggily reaching out to pull me back to him.

"Xander is staying with your father, they're having an 'abuelo y nieto' day."

I stare at him in shock, his smooth and clear use of Spanish surprising me.

"Did you swallow a Rosetta Stone?" I ask, coyly. He rolls his eyes, lifting a hand to lightly rub my back. I feel like a house-cat, getting the sudden urge to purr.

"Very funny." He mumbles. "I've been reading up on my Español."

"Que linda!" I squeal with a giggle, knowing full well that he has no clue what I just said.

"Mhm, that too." He throws his head back into the pillow, causing his dark hair to drop out behind his head, curling into a sexy mess.

"Hm, I like your hair like this." I whisper, leaning on his chest and running my fingers through the strands. "I wonder what you would look like if I braided it."

His eyes go wide and he grabs both my wrists, a warning gaze in his expression.

"I guess you'll never find out."

"Come on." I tease, trying to wriggle out of his grip but his hold tightens, and I pout in frustration.

We're silent for a moment, the only sound in the air is the sound of our breathing, slow and contented.

That is, until the beast in my stomach decides to give out its rendition of a whale song.

"Hungry?" Octavius asks, raising his eyebrow at my stomach.

"How could you tell?" I ask sarcastically, and I jump up from the bed, grabbing a robe to wrap around my bare body. I turn back to see Octavius hasn't moved, and I frown slightly.

"You coming?" I ask, gesturing towards the door.

"Hm, I'm in the mood for breakfast in bed." He sighs, settling back into the bed.

"Listen, this girl does not make breakfast for anyone she can't see." I raise an eyebrow defiantly.

"And this guy doesn't feel like standing up naked when his little friend has decided to be perpendicular." He mimics my tone, but his words cause a deep blush to race to my cheeks.

"Don't be too long." I call behind me as I step through the hall and towards the kitchen.

I feel like I haven't lived in this wing, apart from our bedroom, Xander's room, and the kitchen. I haven't even asked Octavius about the paintings yet. The feel of the hardwood floor on my bare feet is entirely foreign, as if it is the first time I have stepped on it in years.

I don't know what I was thinking, where my mind had gone. Who in their right mind would leave this, this beautiful home, with the beautiful art, and the most beautiful man? But that's just it, I wasn't in my right mind. Maybe I'm still not now. My mind is a roller coaster that goes up and down then down again and I'm still figuring out how that is even possible.

I can't remember a time when my life wasn't one of two extremes: chaotic or blissful. All I want, all I need is that pause, that comma, that colon in the middle of one great run-on sentence, that break. A moment to breath and let myself settle like flecks in a snow globe. But even if I find that perfect setting, the moment when all the pieces fall together, I will always know that there is another shoe about to drop.

I know that I can't keep rising, flying closer and closer towards the sun without burning myself. It's inevitable. But for now, I can finally live inside this moment, this day, this rising of the sun.

My mother once said that in order to realize a goal, you must witness the challenges in your path, experience the inevitable pain, to find pleasure.

And I think now is the first time I actually understand what she meant. That booklet from my childhood, with the crumbling yellow pages and smudged lines of ink, held the foolish dreams of a foolish girl. All she wanted was a prince, the man to sweep her away from darkness and into a sunset of amber and gold.

But no one ever told her what happened after that 'happily ever after', and before the 'once upon a time'. But what was worse, is that she never knew the darkness that was held between.

I needed to be shown my worst fear, the loss of what I held most dear.

Maybe, just maybe, I can finally begin to live beyond the pages of my wildest dreams and finally experience reality, normalcy.

"Yeah right." I scoff to myself, but not bitterly.

I shake myself from my thoughts, heading over to the kitchen finally, and pulling out a carton of eggs and a frying pan. As soon as they begin to sizzle on the stove, I hear Octavius' heavy footsteps behind me.

"I see you finally decided to get up, Perezoso." I giggle.

"I'm going to have to learn Spanish now, aren't I?" He asks, when he already knows my answer.

"Come on, it will be like our own language, one that Klaude wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on."

"Oh believe me, he would find a way to wiggle his way through." I can practically hear him winking at my back.

I craned my head back to see him sitting at the table, his chin leaning on his palm.

"You going to just sit there, or are you going to help?" I ask, nodding over at the pancake mix I found in the fridge. I hear the squeak of his chair and feel his heat behind me.

"Um.." He mutters confused, picking up the mix and dipping his finger in it, tasting it, and then grimacing.

"You're such a child." I roll my eyes with a smile, snatching it away from him.

"I'll be whatever you want me to be if it means I'll get to eat."

"Sounds like something a prostitute would say." I quip in a sing-song voice.

"Only for you." He whispers, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing his chest against my back.

"Don't distract me, I'm going to burn the eggs." I giggle as he begins to pepper kisses up and down my neck. He bites down lightly on my skin and I subconsciously let out a little moan, leaning my head to the side.

"Turn off the stove." He whispers huskily into my neck.

"What?" I mumble, distracted by his lips next to my ear.

He reaches one hand forward, turning the knob on the stove to turn it off. He grabs my waist and pulls me backwards, turning me quickly and somehow maneuvering me so that I am seated at the edge of the island table and he is between my legs.

"I thought you were hungry." I mumble breathlessly between kisses. He ignores me, continuing to press his lips into mine and his fingers around the skin of my waist.

He pulls away slightly, licking his bottom lip slowly.

"You're right, maybe we shouldn't let the food go to waste."

"No hablo inglés." I say quickly, curving my hand around the back of his neck and pulling his lips back to mine, kissing his feverishly. His fingers come to life against against my skin, as he places one hand on my thigh and one under my robe. I catch his lower lip between my teeth and tug slowly, and he groans audibly.

I pull away, giving him a teasing look and hopping off the counter.

"Now, pancakes or eggs?" I ask innocently, prancing over to the stove.

"You are going to be the death of me." He whispers, laughing as he rubs a hand over his face.

"Pancakes it is."