Tom didn’t leave the house the next day until almost one in the afternoon. They watched him go from behind a few trees, having parked the car several blocks away. But Gabe kept his bag, with his laptop in it, just in case.

They went around to the back of the house. Not finding any unlocked windows, Gabe grabbed a rock and busted the glass on the back door, then reached in to unlock it. A loud noise filled the air. “Shit! It’s an alarm. The police will be here soon. The guard. Split up, search the house, and hurry.” He opened the door and ushered them inside. “What ever happened to damn warning stickers?” he muttered under his breath as he headed into the living room.

Ayden went into an office while Tess climbed the stairs to the second floor. She searched through three bedrooms and was in the last one when she found something interesting in a drawer. She picked it up, holding the black object the way she had seen in the movie about the cops. Gabe had called it a gun and said it was an Earth weapon. It had shot people in the movie as if it was magic, like Ayden’s energy ball, and the people fell back. She looked at it curiously, squinting to try to see down the hole.

“Got it!” Gabe yelled.

Tess jumped a little and lowered the gun. She started to put it back in the drawer, but curiosity got the best of her and she decided to take it. She tucked it under her belt, then ran back down stairs and met the others in the living room.

Gabe had the curtain pulled back an inch and was looking out the window. “They’re here. Follow me,” he said urgently, then led them out a side door, and ran into the forest.

Two police officers pursued them.

Tess slowed a little as Ayden lagged behind. She grabbed his hand and pulled him with her as they hurried up a hill. But he was slowing them down too much and the police were catching up. At the top of the slope, Gabe took a sharp turn around a redwood tree to the right and half slid down a steeper hill. Tess pushed Ayden that way as they got to the top, and then turned to face the men who were now at the bottom of the hill. She grabbed the gun and pointed it at them with a steady hand. “Go back,” she demanded.

Both took out their own guns and aimed at her. “Drop the weapon!” one ordered.

Several things happened very quickly. Ayden grabbed her arm, attempting to pull her with him down the hill, where Gabe had gone. Tess pulled the trigger, firing a warning shot to the side of the officers to let them know she was serious. And then, as she stumbled with the surprising force of the weapon, one of the guards fired back. Ayden moved quickly to the side and slid down the hill. She followed after him.

It wasn’t until they reached the bottom that she realized the gun hadn’t missed, and it was nothing at all like an energy ball. Blood was seeping from a wound in Ayden midsection. “Ayd!” She pulled him against her as she heard the men calling for back up.

“In here,” Gabe said in a hushed yell as he slipped into a hallowed tree trunk.

Tess ducked inside, dragging Ayden with her. She sat down and carefully situated him so that he was cradled in her arms. She looked down at her red hand, resting on his stomach. His shirt was soaked with blood now. There was too much. When she looked back at his face, he was smiling weakly. “It’s fine,” he lied quietly, though he was obviously in a lot of pain.

“Damn it! Turn on, you stupid computer,” Gabe complained as he jabbed a finger into a button on his laptop.

Ayden reached up to push some of Tess' tears away, but new ones quickly took their place. “I hate seeing you cry,” he whispered.

“I hate seeing you hurt,” she replied.

“There it goes.” Gabe said. “Just waiting for it to start up. Hang in there.”

The worry in his voice told Tess that this was very bad. She realized now how deadly this Earth weapon was. Ayden understood, too. “Tess,” he breathed, “you know how much I love you?”

“As much as I love you,” she answered, her voice choked with fear.

“More,” he said. “You remember when we were ten… and I put those flowers in your hair?”

She nodded. “When you decided that you’d marry me someday,” she said, crying harder, wishing desperately now that she had married him, that she would have given him what he wanted. She felt so stupid now for being against it. “I’m sorry, Ayd,” she told him, her voice breaking.

He knew what she meant. “Don’t be. From that moment, when I realized that I was going to spend the rest of my life with you—”

“Which better be a long time,” she cut in.

“Regardless,” he said, his voice growing weaker. “You became… everything to me. I have everything… because I have you. You’re my world, Tess.”

“Stop,” she told him. “You’re gonna be fine.”

“Just listen.”

“No! You can’t leave me,” she said firmly. “I’m seriously nothing without you.”

“That’s… that’s not true,” he said, his breathing becoming more labored. “You’re the most… amazing person.”

She glanced up at Gabe frantically, the computer was booted, but now he struggled with the CD drive, which seemed to be stuck. He swore at it under his breath.

Just then, they could hear the police–the back up had arrived and they were growing louder. They were close.

“You’re the most amazing,” she whispered to Ayden, looking back down into his glossy hazel eyes. “You’re the best friend and boyfriend ever. I love you so much Ayd, more than anything.”

He smiled slightly before letting his eyes drift closed.

“Don’t,” she said, her stomach knotting with panic and her heart twisting painfully as he went limp in her arms. “Stay with me okay? Please Ayden, open your eyes. I need you—” She choked on a sob and hugged him tighter, holding him to her. “I can’t live without you, Ayd,” she cried into his curls. “I can’t…”

Suddenly, Gabe grabbed her hand and everything went fuzzy.

When the world came back into view, they were in a room that was filled with what looked like full length, stand alone mirrors, only they didn’t reflect anything. They were white and shimmering, showing blurry distant images of other places.

“Ayd?” she said, still holding him in her lap. He didn’t stir. “Ayden, wake up.”

Nothing. She looked at his chest. He wasn’t breathing.

Gabe stood and watched from a few feet away. His eyes were sad as he struggled with what to say or do.

Fate appeared in a doorway between the strange mirrors. She glanced from Tess to Ayden, not seeming the slightest bit surprised, and Tess realized that the fairy had known this would happen. She had promised that Tess wouldn’t get hurt, she had never said Ayden wouldn’t.

“I’ll kill you!” Tess yelled ferociously.

Fate walked closer, her step light and slow. “I am sorry,” she murmured as she came to stand before the couple.

“No!” Tess screamed at her.

“For you having to endure this pain,” Fate continued. “But I do what I must for our world.”

Tess grabbed for her dagger. She would at least kill this one; she knew she wouldn’t get much farther than that before the other fairies got to her. But without Ayden, she didn’t care. Nothing mattered now. All she knew was that Fate would die for taking him from her.

When Gabe realized what she was going to do, he shook his head. “Tess, that won’t help.”

She ignored him, she didn’t care. Glaring viciously at Fate, she pulled her dagger out.

There was a sudden, sharp intake of breath and Tess looked down. She cried harder, now with relief, as Ayden opened his eyes. She dropped her weapon. It clattered on the hard stone floor as she pulled him closer and held him as tightly as she could. “Oh gods!”

“Air,” he gasped

She loosened her grip. “Sorry. Gods. Ayd,” she breathed. “I thought I lost you.”

He winced as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He caressed her wet cheek with his non-bloody hand and smiled. “As if I could leave you,” he said, his tone light and teasing, but also filled with sincerity.

“You better not,” she said fiercely. “Never leave me!”

“Never,” he promised and kissed her. She clung to him, responding with an intense fervor and continuing to cry.

So lost in each other, they only vaguely heard Gabe talking. “Here’s your orb. Sorry about taking it.”

Fate gave a gentle nod. “No harm has come to us. So we will forgive this one offense.”

“Thank you,” he told her. “By the way, you might want to close that portal, there were people after us.”

“It is already done,” Fate replied. “It was set to close as soon as they entered. However, that was the only connection. It will take a few months before we can reestablish another link to that world.”

“Which means I have to stay?” he asked.

“Yes, until we open another.”

“Don’t open one for me. I’m happy to stay.”

Ayden stopped kissing Tess to look up at him. “You planned on coming all along.”

Gabe grinned. “Yep.”

Tess stood, and then threw her arms around Gabe, hugging him tightly. “Thank you for getting us back here in time,” she told him earnestly.

“No problem. Glad we made it.” He looked at Ayden. “Glad you made it.”

Ayden laughed softly. “Yeah, me too.”

Tess turned back to Ayden. “Are you okay? Can you stand up?” When he nodded, she helped him to his feet. He was weak and grunted in pain.

“Oh!” Gabe said. “You don’t know about bullets. You have to make sure you take it out.”

Ayden opened his hand to show him the little piece of metal.

Gabe shook his head in amazement. “That’s awesome. Just a regular healing spell?”

Ayden nodded. “Yeah. I’m glad we came back here though. There’s more mana here and I’m able to use it to heal more.”

“Then why are you still in pain?” Tess wanted to know.

“Because my own mana wasn’t enough to heal me completely,” he told her. “And the mana that’s here I can draw on, but it’s slow. I’ll be fine in a little while.”

Fate held out her hand to him. “I can heal you the rest of the way.”

He took her hand for a moment, then smiled. “Thanks.”

She nodded and let go. “Come, you can rest here for the night. And I took the liberty of retrieving your packs for the journey home. I also had one made up for you,” she added to Gabe.

His eyes widened. “You knew I’d come?”

“Yes.”

He smiled. “How come you didn’t let me come before?” he asked. “I mean, I pushed play all the time and nothing until just recently.”

“It was not time,” she said simply.

He nodded. “Well, I’m here now, that’s all I care about.”

She led them out of the room of portals and to a small house with beds that were barely big enough for them. Tess apologized for threatening her, but Fate thought nothing of it. She thanked them, offered a generous monetary reward for retrieving their orb, and then left them for the night.

Tess and Ayden retired to one bedroom while Gabe took the other. “I was so scared,” Tess told Ayden as she laid beside him, her fingertips tracing the round scar on his bare stomach. “And it was my fault that you got shot,” she whispered miserably.

He shook his head. “Don’t be stupid. It wasn’t your fault at all.”

She knew it was, but she didn’t want to argue, so she said nothing. She moved her hand up to caress his chest and then the contours of his face. “If you died, you’d take me with you. I’d just be hollow–an empty shell. You’re everything to me. I can’t live without you.”

He brushed a tear from her check. “Me too. After the whole Matt incident, when I left you… The longer I was away, the harder it was to breathe. My life meant nothing if you weren’t there, no matter how hard I tried to go on.”

Another tear fell, her heart felt so full that at any moment she was sure it would burst. She leaned down and kissed him sweetly. “I love you so much,” she breathed against his lips.

“I love you, too.”

She lifted up so she could look down into his eyes. “Ayden…” She bit her lip for a second, then took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?”

He smiled at her. “We don’t have to get married, Tess. We’ll never be apart, regardless.”

“I know, but I was being stupid before. I do wanna marry you. I wanna belong to you in every way possible. And I want you to belong to me.”

“I already do,” he promised.

“Answer me damn it,” she said, shoving him gently. “I’m not asking again.”

He moved off the bed, went to where his belt sat on a chair and pulled something out of a small pouch. He returned to sit beside her. “Course I’ll marry you, goober,” he told her, gazing at her adoringly as he held out his mother’s ring.

She put it on and it fit perfectly. She looked down at the delicate silver ring and sighed. “I feel silly.”

“Why?”

“Because it feels so right on my finger. It just feels like a connection to you, not some domestic ball and chain.” She shook her head. “And after all the fuss I made.”

He just continued to smile as he leaned over and kissed the crook of her neck. “It just means we belong to each other. Forever,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she agreed, then had a sudden thought. “Wait, this doesn’t mean I have to wear a dress, does it?”

He laughed. “You can wear whatever you want,” he told her. “We don’t even have to do the whole wedding thing. We can get married in private if you want.”

She sighed. “I think Mom would kill me if we didn’t have a real wedding.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “So does that mean you’ll wear a dress?”

She rolled her eyes. “You want me to, don’t you?”

He just grinned in answer.

“Ugh. Maybe,” she told him grudgingly. “If I do, you have to promise that I won’t have to wear it long.”

“I’ll make sure to strip you immediately after."

She grinned. “Promise?”

“Oh, yeah.”