😬😂

"Why is it so cold?!" Oliver whined loudly, his face scrunching into a pout as he trudged up the hill. "And why don't they have parking up there? That's suspicious!" He continued, ignoring the panned looks that Damien and Hope were giving him in hopes that he would finally shut up. He had been complaining the second he got out and started walking.

"I'd shut up before we end up accidentally losing you here. I heard there's a lot of bears." Kim lied. Even he knew that there was a limit to how much you could complain in an hour.

Oliver pouted harder, scooting closer to Katherine while Katherine made a face of disgust, using her hand that wasn't occupied to shove him off.

"It's cold, Katherine!" Oliver huffed, falling behind her to use her as a shield to block the frigid air that was slapping down on the group. Even Ella, who really enjoyed the cold weather, felt the air get in stuck in her lungs when she felt the icy wind smack right into her.

"You okay?" Damien frowned upon noticing her breath hitch as she quickly lifted her scarf up to her nose in order to breathe. Ella nodded, giving him a smile even though the only thing that he could see that indicated her smiling was her eyes that were squinted slightly.

"The cold air kind of knocks the wind out of you." Ella explained, allowing Damien to pull her closer to his side so that his larger frame could block it somewhat from her.

Falling a little behind the rest of the group, the couple was able to see and hear the bickering of their coworkers all throughout the entire hike up, which ended up being a good fifteen minutes before they finally entered the heated and cozy cabin.

"I get the master bedroom!" Kim dropped his large suitcase as he raced upstairs, nearly shoving off an already clumsy Ms. Neele.

Ella laughed softly, shaking her head as she set down her black duffle bag on the floor to give her arm and bag a rest. Just as she stretched, Hope grabbed her arm, lacing their arms together.

"Ella and I will be roommates." Hope declared loudly. The last thing Hope wanted was to be stuck in a room with Neele; she was so annoying. Ella, kind of surprised, looked at Hope with wide eyes. "What? Did you already have one?" Hope began to pout, quickly searching for Barnes instead. She didn't want to end up by herself nor did she want to room with Katherine. Both were scary ideas.

"No, no. It's fine." Ella patted Hope's hand gently before unlacing her arm to get her bag again. "Just find a room and I'll place my bag there."

"Awesome." Hope bounded her way up the stairs, and Ella trudged behind, a little tired from the hike already. "I'm really glad you're not rooming with someone else, but how come you and Damien didn't end up rooming?" Hope pondered once she found a bedroom that had two full sized beds on either corners of the room.

Ella shrugged. "I wasn't even aware that we were going to share rooms."

"Everyone but Kim." Hope snorted, throwing herself onto the bed and sighing in tiredness. "Ugh, we still have to make dinner. Kim wants us to play a couple of board games he brought, too."

Ella yawned, nodding along before she sat down on the bed, leaning back until she was lying down. Hope continued to speak, and to Ella, who was already tired from the long week, it was lulling her to a deeper tranquility until she was fast asleep.

"Right, Ellie?" Hope called out, waiting for a response that never came. "Ellie?" Hope tried again, and again, no response. "Ella?" Hope lifted herself from the bed by her elbows, finally seeing why Ella wasn't answering. Just then, too, there was knock on the door, firm and soft.

Lifting herself completely to go get it, Hope opened the door to reveal Damien. "Is Ella here?" He looked behind Hope to see Ella on the bed.

"Yeah," Hope moved to the side to invite Damien in. "She kind of knocked out, though."

"Oh, did she?" Damien stopped walking deeper into the room. He had come with a notebook and pen in hand in hopes that him and Ella could sketch out a plan for the Parker case. Ever since three weeks ago, both of them had gotten caught up in their own personal schedules and could only see each other or call each other for brief amount of times, sometimes even only to wish each other a goodnight.

"Hope!" Barnes called from downstairs loudly, and Hope winced, closing the door a bit. "Hope!"

"I'll go. She probably wants help with dinner. See you later." Hope rushed out, quietly shutting the door behind her before her footsteps scurried down the stairs and her voice responded to Joselyn.

Damien sighed, deciding to just stay in that room since he had gotten to room with Oliver, and Damien was sure that if he spent one more minute with that adult-sized baby, then Damien would lose it. So he went to sit in a corner of the room, using the quiet of the room to work until Ella began stirring with how loud the downstairs area was.

Ella moved to her side, her back to Damien, unknowing of his presence as she gently slipped her shoes off, curling back into a small bundle of warmth. It had been a while since she had slept so soundly but that was thanks to her exhaustion. She would work herself to the bone just to sleep without any problems at night. While she could go for days without nightmares, sometimes, they still resurfaced, especially since she was a light sleeper. Any sound would alert her immediately.

"Good sleep?" Damien's low voice rumbled in the silent room, scaring Ella tremendously as she flinched back, quickly sitting up which caused a dizzy spell for her. "Sorry, Ella, it's just me." Damien closed his book, approaching her carefully so that she could see that it was just him.

"Hi," Ella whispered, out of breath. She pushed her hair back, feeling how it had quickly gotten sticky against her skin when she had heard the unknown and deep voice. "What," her voice came out hoarse and sore, and she winced, clearing it. "What are you doing here?" She tried again, still tense since she couldn't see his face in the dark room. Now with the cold weather, the sun would set much earlier, so it was completely dark inside.

"Oliver." Damien thought one word would suffice as an explanation.

Ella, however, instead of laughing, quickly moved off the bed once she felt a heavy weight fall on it. She headed towards where she had seen a lamp earlier and turned it on, finally sighing once she was able to see Damien's face.

"I'm sorry. I know it was you, but," Ella swallowed, unable to verbally explain her angst and concern.

"Do you want to come closer?" Damien offered, itching to pull her closer to hug her, but he didn't know if she would be comfortable with that.

"I... let me wash up first. I'm sweating a bit." Ella admitted with a small and bashful laugh. Damien smiled, relieved to hear her more relaxed.

"Take your time. I'll be downstairs." Damien promised, leaving Ella to comfortably shower. While he waited downstairs, he mostly just sat to himself, ignoring the bickering between Hope and Oliver until Oliver began egging Damien on, hoping to get a reaction out of him.

"Come on. How did it start? Did you just fall in love at first sight?" Oliver nudged Damien with his elbow. Damien only sent him a panned look. "I mean, I can understand. She is very beautiful."

Damien couldn't disagree with that, so he just looked away. He didn't necessarily feel the need to share such private moments.

"I'm sure he fell for Ella the same way we all came to adore her." Barnes, the more motherly figure among the group, calmed Oliver's nagging, motioning for him to calm down.

"I just want to know." Oliver grumbled, looking away only to catch sight of Ella walking downstairs already dressed in some black leggings with an oversized, light pink, and fluffy hoodie. "Ella!" Oliver waved her over quickly, grabbing her hand and yanking her closer. "What do you see in Mr. Pet-"

"Jeez, these magazines are out of control these days." Kim had thrown one that had been lying around straight at Oliver. While Kim had nothing against Oliver, neither did he mind Oliver asking these questions, he could tell that Damien wasn't really in the mood to continue to talk to Oliver. "Come on, let's play now!" Kim pulled out a board game while Barnes served Ella a warm plate of food, placing it right beside Damien so that the two could sit together while the rest of the table played.

A couple of beers, hours, and games later, the whole table was groaning about how good their boss was at playing the game. They had continuously whined and complained until Kim finally decided to stop that game and play another one.

Ella, who was still tired, decided to opt out of that round and go outside for some fresh air. Damien had stepped away earlier to answer a couple of persisting phone calls, so no one would really notice once they were caught up in another childish game, especially when most of them were tipsy.

Shutting the front door behind her, Ella leaned on the porch railing, breathing in the cold, pine-scented air in the winter. She hadn't gotten a thick jacket or blanket to cover herself, but she also didn't mind feeling refreshed in comparison to the heat that had accumulated inside the dining room where the rest of the group was.

Standing out there for a few minutes, Ella could begin to feel her fingers slowly freeze when she felt familiar and thick arms wrap around her shoulders, a warm and firm chest pressing against her back.

"You shouldn't have come out without any protection against the cold." Damien murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I called out to you, but you weren't answering. I hope I didn't startle you."

Ella smiled, lifting her hands to hold onto his forearms as she leaned back. "No. Your cologne is stronger out here, so I could identify you." Knowing that that cologne belonged to Damien made the scent that much more comforting and enticing. Damien only smiled in response, rubbing his larger hands up and down hers arms.

"Your dad told me that they were thinking about going back to Spain." Damien mentioned, remembering the conversation that he had had with Timotheo. The older man had emphasized how much he wanted Ella to be looked after and taken care of which only made Damien laugh, but he had no other intentions anyway.

"Yeah," Ella sighed, already missing them. They hadn't left yet; their tickets were booked for next week, but it still made Ella feel bittersweet now that they officially had a date for leaving. She was going to miss them terribly, after all they had done for her, made her feel safe and secure, she wanted to take care of them too.

"I'll never fill their spot, but I can promise to always be there when you need me." Damien noticed Ella's glossy eyes as she looked at the beautiful snow that had begun to fall like little diamonds shining in the moonlight.

"You already do so much for me." Ella chuckled, reaching to wipe a tear from her cheek as she sniffed.

"I want to, Ella." Damien truly would do more, anything really, just for her. He didn't say that though, not wanting to overwhelm her.

"I know you do." Ella smiled softly. "Let's talk about something else. I..." Ella paused, preferring to not say anything instead.

"You what?" Damien nudged her gently in his hold, encouraging her to continue.

"You mentioned that there were three of you back then. I know it was you, Selena, but I don't know who the third one is..." Ella explained, twisting in his arms to look at his face properly while she spoke. Only then would be able to read him better and understand how he was feeling. She had learned, throughout their dating process, that even though he was much more comfortable around her and had openly displayed gestures of affection, he still didn't feel all too comfortable sharing his burdens with her. "I know that sharing something with someone not being ready only makes things harder, so I don't want you to force yourself into that. I just want you to know that I'm also here for you. I probably can't fix the problem or make you forget about it, but I can lend an ear or offer you comfort, Damien."

Damien smiled tightly, sighing as he took Ella's hands, bringing her forward to sit on the swing bench that was situated beside the front door and against the wall. If he was going to explain his story to her, a story he hadn't verbally addressed for over a decade, he knew it might take a while.

"Vincent was his name. He was like a brother to me. We basically all grew up together, but you could tell that he stood out from the group. He was different, bright, happy. I get told that I used to be like that, too, but it was mostly because of them." Damien felt Ella's hand find his, wrapping it in between both of hers. He was grateful; he felt like he needed the support to continue. "I guess you could say that he showed me that life was fun and whatnot. Since his parents had grown up here, he understood English very well while I learned it, so he helped me on that too. After a while, we just became close like brothers, and our families eventually became friends too." Damien felt his chest constrict. It had been a while since he had gone to go see Vincent's family, but he felt it much too painful. Entering that place, hoping Vincent would come out, all smiles and laughs. It was too much.

Ella let him continue, though. For the longest time, she knew that Damien was holding back on her and that he had something that was troubling him. She would be an incompetent psychologist if she didn't know, but she had always kept it to herself, hoping that Damien would mention it himself. Only now, when he reminded her of how he would always be there for her was she reminded that she also wanted him to know that she would do the same for him.

"Once our families began hanging out, we were inseparable. We went to elementary, middle, and high school together, we even began college together. He... he got diagnosed with severe depression during high school, too. It didn't matter that he had a loving family or that his friends were always there for him. I mean, you know how it is with mental illnesses." He looked at Ella to give her a rueful smile. "Then, he had found a girl. He always dreamed of one day being able to live life normally. He wanted to graduate, get a house, get married, have a family. That girl though, she didn't. I guess that egged his depression and..." Damien still couldn't say it. He thought he could, but he couldn't. "I always thought that if I had hung out with him more, if I had been more aware of his situation-"

"Don't think that." Ella firmly interrupted, moving to kneel by him so that Damien could see her clearly. "That illness is a sick, deteriorating disease that some people can't really help. Thinking that you, an outsider, could help, is very thoughtful, but I promise you, that unless you're in their head, you can't really prevent them from those things." Ella also wished for her to be able to help with their needs, but it's hard when you understand that unless they want to be helped, there really is nothing you can do for them but just let them know you're there.

"I know that now, but it's just... I wish I would've done more things with him. I wish he would've given us a chance to say goodbye." Damien didn't know he was crying, but Ella kept wiping tears away as she nodded, such a strong emotion in those beautiful eyes that he knew he couldn't have trusted anyone else with this. Ella was Ella, and only she could offer him the comfort he really needed.

After both of them had calmed and the cold had become unbearable, they decided to return inside. There, they noticing that they had spent much more time outside than they had intended to since everyone had gone off to bed.

"Will you be okay sleeping with Ms. Ines?" Damien whispered once they stopped at Ella's bedroom door. He tucked a loose and soft strand of hair that slipped from behind her ear.

"I feel like I should be the one asking you that about Oliver." Ella chuckled, watching as Damien smiled, shrugging.

"He's much more tolerable asleep than awake." He promised, leaning forward to kiss Ella goodnight. She had been irresistible in that oversized hoodie that, for some reason, made Damien want to just cuddle her up and never let her go.

"Damien," Ella paused, looking down as she spoke, barely a whisper that touched his own lips. "I love you." She murmured quietly before unsticking herself from him and entering her bedroom quietly yet quickly, not even giving Damien a second to respond.

Damien, like a fool, stood outside for another five to ten minutes, smiling foolishly and dazed.

She didn't give him a chance but had she stayed for even a second more, he would have repeated those exact words.