Elora's point of view:

I slept until ten that morning after I'd shown the boys to the pool house where they would be staying. We had it for the people that worked there. It consisted of three bedrooms, a kitchen, one bathroom and a living room. We usually kept the staff that cleaned for us in there, but we recently cut them since we didn't really need it. Now that many of us were finding our own homes, we didn't have to have people serving us anymore.

When the morning came Flynn and I woke up together. Usually that was a rather peaceful setting. He and I would wake up, stay in bed for a while until we were ready and then we would go downstairs and have coffee. I would make breakfast while we hummed and danced to music together, then he and I would eat in either conversational or silent harmony. However today wasn't one of these mornings.

When I woke up he was getting dressed. It didn't seem like much to me, I was innocently shuffling in bed as he shuffled around for clothes. I sat myself up and stretched into the hot morning sun. We would be having one of those really hot days again. Thanks a lot pre-summer Washington.

"Morning," I chirped to Flynn as he was almost finished getting dressed. He nodded at me and continued to go about his day. This was when all the oddness got to me. He never did that, he always replied to me when I said good morning or goodnight.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. Flynn sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he buttoned up his shirt. Now he was done getting dressed and he had no way of distraction. Either he stood there or left. I certainly didn't want him to storm out when I didn't even get an explanation.

"Flynn can you please talk to me?" I asked. He sighed again and now it was becoming increasingly annoying.

"What's there to talk about?" He asked, finally speaking. Even though he had spoken to me it still irked me. He was mad for some reason and I wanted to know why. I deserved to know what I had done when I was his girlfriend and most definitely the instigator of his now sullen mood.

"Well obviously you're mad. I'd like to know what I did that made you so ornery," I replied. He sighed and stopped wandering around the room. Instead he just stood there in front of me, not even going onto the bed and sitting next to me. I suppose he wouldn't want to if he was this mad at me.

"It's just---you shot three people Elora! Then you take in these people you don't even know and let them stay in your pool house. I mean, who does that at all?" He asked me. That was what he was mad about? The fact that I wanted to help them and give them a place where they could safely map out what options they had and didn't have. I didn't understand why that was such a terrible thing to do.

"I killed those people because they were about to unfairly kill three others. I mean you would have done the same thing if you were in my situation," I replied. He scoffed as if I was talking in a language that he didn't know. What right did he have to think what I did was any crazier than the things that he had done in the past?

"No I wouldn't, not if I didn't have to. Elora, the reason I save people at all is because it's my job to do that. If I wasn't a military captain, do you really think I would go around shooting people because someone else is in need of safety? All I want is a life where I don't have to do that!" He explained to me. I couldn't believe what he was saying to me! How in the world could he think that way?!

"Well then I guess you're not the brave man everyone thinks you are!" I said to him, my voice raising due to him totally offending me. He didn't even direct an insult at me but to say that he would willingly be a bystander was something I couldn't and wouldn't even try to stand for. It was enough to get me out of bed and standing a few feet across from him.

"What does bravery have anything to do with this?! You know, Elora I've done my best to support you and your family but now I'm wearing thin. All you people do is try to save people! You know what if they don't need any saving, Elora?! Have you ever thought of the fact that maybe not everyone needs you or your family? That you don't have to have everyone you cross paths with stay with you when they have a problem that many others have had to solve before?!" He explained. It was so angering that it made me red in the face and I was sure my nostrils were flaring. Was this really what he thought of me and my family?!

"Fine! If you want to deal with all the problems you have on your own then leave Flynn! Nobody is asking you to stay! We just helped you because your father died and your mother abandoned you like some stray dog! So if you want to deal with it yourself, then go for it! I'm not stopping you!" I shouted. It was infinitely certain that everyone downstairs could hear us fighting. We were both yelling at each other and it was clear that they knew what we were saying.

"Sounds great! See you later, Elora!" He shouted at me finally. That was when he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the room like I didn't want him to do in the first place. I was so desperately and completely angry with him that I just stood there as I watched him leave the house to God knows where.

•••

After Flynn left, I cried. I stayed in my room and I let all the tears I had welling up inside me fall down my face in a wet mess. I wanted him back now, but I didn't know where he was. I had no idea why I even said those things to Flynn, and now he had been gone for two hours. Everyone was still downstairs, just trying to ignore what had happened. I was in the hopes that they hadn't heard any of it and just thought I was still sleeping. But who was I kidding? It was noon and they had definitely heard us fighting.

There was a soft knock on my door as I whimpered for whoever it was to come in. I hoped it was Flynn but when my mother came in instead my hopes had flown away. She shut the door behind her as she walked into my room, taking a seat at the side of my bed. I was in the middle, laying down and crying as I held the pillow Flynn always used as he slept. There were no words to even describe briefly how much I missed him.

"Hi, honey," she said to me kindly as her soft hand went to the middle of my back and began to slowly run across my skin. She used to do this when I was a kid and I got sick. It would help me fall asleep.

"I want him back, mommy," I said. She nodded as she kept running her hand across my back. I didn't know what else to say to her. I was having trouble with any words right now.

"I know. He'll come back. If he's a good man---if he's anything like his father---he will come back," she replied. How was I to know any of that though? I had no way of knowing if he would ever even set foot in this house ever again. Then I would be doomed to live a life alone because he had taken my heart away from me and refused to give it back. For some reason I felt as if my life had vanished when he walked out of the house. Like he had taken every amount of breath that I had and thrown it across the room, stomping on it until it broke into a million pieces.

"I said such horrible things to him. Why did I do that?" I asked, half to her and half to myself. I was more mad at me than I was at him. He had made the simple mistake of taking something and twisting it into another. What had I done? Well, I had insulted every single ounce of pride he had and I had ripped it right out of him. I never know that I became that sort of person when I was angry.

"That's what happens when people fight with each other. They point out all the worst things and throw it at them. You aren't abnormal in that way," she replied. Even when she told me this I firmly believed that I was one of the worst human beings on the face of this earth.

"What do I do?" I asked. I wanted my mother to instruct me on how to fix the situation I was in. She was my mother, after all, she was supposed to help me. She had to pick me up when I fell. I had no courage to do it myself, Flynn had stolen that already.

"Darling, I wish I could help, but that is up to you. You've had the most eventful two days of your life, I can tell you that right now. For what it's worth, you've become quite the hero in your old mother's eyes," she replied. That made me feel just the slightest bit happier when she said that to me. At least there was someone in this world that supported my actions. I really thought Flynn would appreciate it. I was disappointed to know that wasn't at all the case.

"I don't even know where he is," I said to him. That was probably the biggest problem here. I didn't have a clue as to where Flynn went. How was I to even begin reconciling anything when I had no idea where he was?

"He's at the military base, my love. Go find him," she replied. Wait, how did she know where he was?

"He told you?" I asked. She nodded and shrugged her shoulders. For some reason Flynn seemed to trust my mother. I supposed it was quite simple for someone to do that. My mother had this quality to her that made you love to trust in her almost instantly.

"Go, before you're out of time. I don't know how long he'll be there for," she replied. I nodded and hugged her tight as I got up from the bed. I quickly went and grabbed my jacket as I sprinted out of the room. I ran out of the house and took one of the two cars that my family and I owned. I didn't think, I just did. I needed to get back to Flynn or I didn't know how long I would have before I completely destroyed my own health.

I ran out of the car when I parked at the military base. I ignored everyone in there. I knew my way through this base. My parents brought us here all the time throughout our lives, I was no amateur. I knew the ins and outs of this place, even the darker places not a lot of people know about. We weren't allowed to go in there until we were older, I didn't enter until I was eighteen where my father and I had to do something. I can't remember what. Needless to say, finding Flynn would be easy.

I looked in all the training rooms, and he wasn't there. That's usually where he wandered according to him. He was always there when he wasn't...outside. That must have been where he went. He must be doing exercises with all the young privates training for the army. I ran as fast as I could to the outside of the base, trying to look for him. The problem was that the place was huge. I bet it took thirty minutes to get around the whole outside. He could be anywhere by now. I still had to pull through though, I had to find him if it was the last thing I do.

"Flynn?! Flynn?!" I called to him. There was no answer right away. I stood in the centre of the field in which many of the privates were running or doing core exercises. Where in the world could he be?

After a few seconds, I heard the godly sound of my name being called. "Elora!" Shouted the heavenly voice of Flynn Nash as I turned around to see him. He was a far distance away from me, standing still as I watched him for only a few seconds. Every single inch of him made me want to run there as fast as I could.

So I did as I wanted. I sprinted to him as fast as my legs could carry me. He saw me running and began to imitate my actions. I was surging with love and want to be held in the arms of the only man I ever unconditionally loved. It was like striking a match and letting the fire burn freely as I felt the grass break along my ankles as I ran to him like there was nothing left to have in this world but his affection.

I jumped into his arms as we met and I kissed him quickly. He kissed back with fiery passion as he held me high in his arms. Feeling his lips on mine was like a drug that I needed to keep my sanity. This kiss made the world stand still on its axis, sitting there and waiting for the spark to die out. Although I knew it never would, even if we finished kissing. Our fire would constantly be fuelled by our extremely irrevocable love for each other. I didn't know how else to show him how much I truly needed him but by kissing the pain and doubt away.

"I'm sorry I said those things to you. I never meant them. I'm so sorry!" I whispered to him in exasperated heat. All I wanted to do was feel his touch on my now warmed skin. Whatever things we had said to each other were resolved now, for the most part. It was just us now, basking in the glory of our achingly affectionate youth. That was the best part of being young and part of a new love, it was the most nerve wracking, celestial thing one could go through. It was the aspect that everyone wanted in their lives.

"I don't want you to worry about any of that. We're done now. What matters is that I love you and I want to be with you for as long as you'll allow me," he replied as he let me step to the ground again. To hear him say those words was like seeing magic projected right in front of me. The affect he had on me went unnoticed until something like this happened where all he would have to do was say the right words and I'd fall into his arms like a damsel in distress.

"You're going to be with me for a long time then," I replied as I wrapped my arms loosely around his shoulders as I went to kiss him again. The wind of the warmest May sifted through my dark hair as my breathes kept catching with every graze of his lips on mine. My leg went up and bent as he kept holding me so tight as if he never planned to let go of me. We could be in the worst of conditions as possible, I knew I would still love him.

"I can't leave, I'm working. Do you want to stay here for a while? I'm sure you want to go home, though," he offered. I would have done anything if it meant I could spend as much time with him as I possibly could. I hadn't yet seen him in action as a soldier. I'd like to see how he does what he does.

"I'll stay. I want to see how good of a commander you really are. Hopefully I end up impressed," I flirted. He laughed a little and gave me one last quick kiss on the lips as he took my hand in his and walked me down the field to see his troop he was currently training.

As I watched him train his men, I had a surge of desire running over me. That wasn't the main feeling I felt, though. No, it was something more pure than that. Something like unadulterated love that I knew would never fade in a million years. Finally, I had gotten what I wanted. I had a romance that resembled the one my parents had when they were my age, even younger than that. I had that now, and I wasn't about to waste it.

Note: sorry for the wait on this as well. I did announce that I have some things to do that would make updates slower for a short time. Don't worry, I'll do my best to make sure you get a chapter at least twice a week if I can. Anyway, thanks for pulling through with me. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and be sure to vote if you did. Make sure to write me some comments on what you think. You all know how much I love to know what you think. Be sure to follow me as well. Happy reading!