Coming Back: Part 2

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    Lillian snorted softly and rolled her eyes at the memory. “He was always such an idiot.”

    Taking a deep breath, she looked over her shoulder and behind the tree she was leaning on. Even though it was years after the first time she had met Alec, being in their clearing again made it all rush back it her. All of the memories she had pushed away when she had left, trying to forget the best friend she had ever had. And as it had turned out, playing Hide-and-Go-Seek with a giant had been even more fun than she had thought. All she had to do was climb up into the trees and hide above his head till she could run for home base. ‘Cept that I had to climb higher up almost each time I saw him. Good Lord, was he really as big as I remember? Lillian’s grey eyes were calm as she studied the waterfall; on the inside her emotions were tumbling and tossing. I wonder…I wonder how big he’d be now. She turned back around and pulled her mother’s cap off her head. Messy locks fell from where they had stuck to her head, and she shook her sun bleached auburn hair to make her scalp feel less sticky. There was no promise that the vortex was even still behind the waterfall. A few months before she had moved away, Alec had tried to explain how it worked, but she had told him to give up in a grumpy huff. Wherever he came from, they raised their kids to be a ton more book-smart than she’d ever be. Alec had shrugged it off and told her a funny story about his family. Lillian smiled a small, sad smile. That had been one of the best things about him. He always brushed over things like that and tried to make her smile.

    “Man…After all this time. I tried to make myself forget so that I wouldn’t miss you.” She muttered to herself. Sadness welled up in her and she sniffed back the tears that had been threatening to fall since she had gotten off her motorcycle. Stepping a couple of feet, she walked up to her Triumph and slipped the army green cap under one of the straps. “You’ll probably never come back here…And yet here I am!…I should’ve gone to see my own grandparents by now, and yet……..here I am.”

    A warm tear slid down onto her left cheek. Angrily she reached up to wipe it off, turning her face into her hand to make any evidence of it disappear.  

    Something shifting off in the shadowy depths of the woods caught Lillian’s attention as she rubbed her cheek, and her eyes instantly followed it. All of her other worries disappeared as she twisted more to the left, barely breathing as she peered into the woods.
The sun was starting to set over the town, and the last rays of light scarcely broke this far past the tree trunks. But as she silently stood there, completely still as her eyes tried to trace the movements she had seen, her ears finally picked up a noise. A chill swept right underneath her skin once she realized that she was hearing the sounds of heavy breathing, blowing in and out of huge lungs.
Trembling, Lillian’s eyes moved toward the sound. A dark brown shadow shifted again, and then from the middle of its hazy darkness, two bright yellow eyes stared back at her. She was unable to move as she stared into the eyes. Her terror held her in place, something instinctual in her hoping that the eyes really didn’t see her as long as she didn’t move. For a moment, her heart stopped beating as she stared into the eyes, their depths holding a level of wildness and madness as they bore into her. A small cry escaped her lips as she suddenly forced herself to look away. Her mind ran at a desperate pace, pleading with God to help her even as she jumped for the branch right above her head. Fear helped her climb faster than she ever had in her life, and even her thick soled boots couldn’t hold her back as she made her way up. It saw me. Whatever IT is, it SAW ME. Please dear Jesus, just….keep it away!

    Somewhere near the top of the tree, Lillian was starting to run out of thick branches that were sturdy enough for her; the ones left were drastically thinner than the ones below. She forced herself to stop on a branch that was just barely strong enough to hold her before she wedged herself in tightly against the tree trunk.

    Clinging to the thin branches around her, she finally made herself look down. Dread made her insides feel like rotten ice. Her grey eyes had to search through the clusters of braches and twig like growths that grew along the tree’s trunk. But through the varying shades of green and brown, her eyes zeroed in on two forms. The branches between her and the quickly climbing things made it hard to clearly see what they even were, looking like blurry, brown animal shapes with long front arms. The tree began to sway once they reached the thinner, upper section of the trunk and their quickly shifting weight made it toss back and forth. Color draining from her face, Lillian held on even tighter and closed her eyes. The shaking and swaying became worse, and she could now hear the things quietly snarling to themselves as they climbed on towards their prey.

    I should’ve jumped to another tree. A small and quiet part of her mind thought. Her brain was still soaking in every sound that reached her ears, but she scathingly noticed it finally suddenly found the time to useful. Why did I corner myself up here, instead of jumping to another tree? I used to do be able to do it, and I still probably could’ve…..Oh God…I don’t want to die this way! Why didn’t I run into the lake? Maybe these things are afraid of water-…

    “OW! Good Creator!…I don’t remember the ceiling being so damnably low.” A muffled and deep voice cut through the sounds of the waterfall. The tree stopped swaying and everything in the clearing seemed to balance on the silent edge of a cliff.

    Lillian’s eyes flew open at the sound of the voice. It rang in her ears as her chest rose and fell with shaky breaths. Someone was out there. And even though she almost didn’t believe that she had just heard it, she knew that voice. The last time she had heard it, it had been wavering between the higher pitch she had heard for years, and a tone that was so deep it surprised her every time his voice would lower down to it.

    “ALEC!” She yelled, desperation making her voice almost sound like a wail.

    A horrible and rumbling screech cut through the air, stabbing into the echoes of Lillian’s cry. The scream was full of animalistic authority, coming from somewhere at the base of the tree. It was joined by several higher pitched screams, popping up from several different places close by. Two of the ear splitting cries came from only a few feet below the young woman, making her ears ring.

    “What th- ?...Lillian?” The deep voice replied, tensely alert in his confusion. The sound of huge feet scrambling over rocks suddenly added to the mix of sounds ringing in Lillian’s ears. “LILLIAN! Where are you?!” His voice suddenly roared in urgency.

    “Alec! U-UP here!” Trying to ignore the screeching screams and the tree’s dangerous swaying, Lillian desperately peered through the branches in front of her. She could just barely make out a large patch of blond hair, tanned skin, and deep black. But she couldn’t focus on anything or make out any solid image as the tree began to dip and sway even more severely.

    Tears were streaming down her face as she looked back down. The two blurry forms were barely ten feet below her; a sudden spike of fear made her feel as if her heart had fallen into a black hole. They were jumping and moving around erratically, using their long front arms and almost human like paws to grab onto branches. Their bodies were bear like, muscular and with thick shoulders and heavier hind-legs, but they had a leanness that was similar to a monkey. Their faces held a stronger mix of bear and baboon qualities, but the violent swaying kept Lillian from seeing anything too clearly. But even though the two animals never stopped moving, she could see that they were both roughly the size of draft horses.

    “Oh God... Alec-…ALEC!! Help me!” Lillian’s vision was blurred from tears, but she never looked away from the two things under her. One of them started to scramble up higher, throwing its long fingered paw at her. Crooked nails were inches from striking her leg, but the tree began to dip drastically under the added weight, and it climbed back down. It screamed viciously at her, it’s yellow eyes round with crazed determination.

    “I’m here Lillian! I’m right here! Do NOT let go!” Alec’s voice boomed.  Lillian desperately wished that she clearly could see where he was.

    Her fear and adrenaline hit its peak, and she started to hyperventilate in short, gasping breaths.  All of her senses went haywire; branches snapping, roaring screams, Alec’s rumbling voice, sweat, sap, and musk all hitting her at once. Lillian could even taste her own fear through the dirt that had found it’s way into her mouth.

    Suddenly, a massive and black shape broke through the braches and smacked at one of the animals. The tree shook violently, branches hitting Lillian in sharp painful bursts. The black shape was back almost instantly, followed by another that bent awkwardly to reach at the other screeching animal. But both animals were able to jump out of the way, leaping from limb to limb as they screamed at something just beyond the tangled braches. A loud, and deeply rumbling snarl rolled out into the air, easily filling her ears and sending a chill down her spine. That’s Alec! He has to be trying to hit them…grab them maybe! Please God, please God, please! Immediately following the snarl, the huge, black colored hand shapes pushed their way back into the branches. Lillian tensed at the sight of them and tried to fix her grip before they hit. But she was jarred from her seat, sending her arms flailing for a branch that was strong enough to hold onto. Quickly, she started to slip to the right, her weight dragging her off the thick base of the branch. Her desperately searching fingers found a grip before she had slipped down too far, but just as her right hand was able to grasp onto the branch, the back of her head suddenly exploded in pain. White light flooded Lillian’s vision and clouded her mind. Her thoughts became stuffy and thick, the sounds and things going on around her became muffled; as if her brain was slipping down into water.

    “Al-…Alec…” Lillian forced out of numb lips.

    “What? Lillian-…Lillian! You’re going to fall!”

    Alec’s voice was mostly muffled through the thick, smothering wall that enveloped Lillian’s mind. Blackness was quickly creeping over the flood of white light, her vision almost completely gone as she passed out. Everything was falling into the depths of unconsciousness, and the last thing Lillian knew was the feeling of air rushing past her.

    Pain throbbed past the blackness, sometimes waking her mind enough for her to suddenly slip into a dream; they were full of fear and she was always running for her life. Sound stabbed into her ears, changing her dreams until she started to become aware that she was in a dream. They continued to push her into wakefulness, making her thrash and turn as she struggled past the dreams and the pain.

    “Please Lillian, you need to wake up now. C’mon……You need to do this for me!”

    The voice was so deep, she barely understood what it was saying. But there was so much worry in it. And she would’ve sworn that she knew it too. Suddenly, she could feel a light touch on the side of her face. It was something warm. And it covered so much of her face. Instinctively, she turned her head away from it, but it never left her skin.  

    “Lillian,” the voice was now thick with emotion and it paused for a moment, “you have to keep waking up. I can make the headache go away, but you have to WAKE UP FIRST. Don’t…Don’t slip away on me! I just…I just got back…” The voice stopped and Lillian heard a loud in-drawn breath being shakily pulled in.

    “Alec.” Lillian muttered. Adrenaline was suddenly flushing through her system, the blackness lifting off her brain. “Alec,” she said louder.

    Her face tensed into concentration and worry, eyebrows furrowing together. Memories flashed through her mind; shadows moving, desperation making her climb, yellow eyes staring, claws grasping for her. And then a screeching roar screamed into her ears. Lillian’s eyes flew open in panic. She yelled and scrambled to her feet, unseeing as fear made her muscles suddenly move from the sheer instinct to move away from danger.

    “Lillian!”

    The rumbling shout brought the panicking young woman out of her daze. Sweat ran down her face and she had to blink it out of her eyes. Her eyes danced around, finally taking in the large fire that burned a few feet away from her, the nighttime shadows that covered the clearing, a massively huge pack and a pair of black gloves laying off to the side…

    “Lillian.” This time the deep voice was soft, gently pulling her attention to it. “Lillian, you’re alright. You’re safe now. Completely safe, I promise you. Look at me Lillian. You know me.” The voice chuckled, and an ironic tone made it soft. “I know you used to call me ‘Ick’ back then, but I think I’d be better to look at than anything that’s wandering out there.”  

    Breathing in deep, trembling gulps of air, Lillian felt her heartbeat began to slow. Slowly she turned around to face the voice.
Once her gaze fell on him, she almost didn’t believe what she was seeing. It had taken her a moment to see all of him, eyes slowly traveling up the long, though thoroughly muscular body of the giant man. The fire was casting a warm light that danced along his dark clothing and shone brightly off his military cut, blond hair. His face had lost all of its boyish softness, and had squared into the strong face of a handsome young man. A couple of strands of hair had fallen over his blue eyes, but they hardly masked the deep thoughtfulness in them. A smile slowly spread across his face, pushing his wide mouth into a smile she knew so well.

    He’s so big now. It was the first coherent thought she had yet. She tried to just let it sink in so she could move past the shock and fear, but she couldn’t ignore her old friend’s size. Before she would’ve compared him to a good sized house. Now he made her feel like a Barbie looking up into the face of a girl’s good-looking older brother. Good looking…Dear God…

    Suddenly, the pain came pounding back. It beat against her skull with a painful throb. “Alec,” she said weakly as her hands came up to her temples. Her legs lost what strength the adrenaline rush had given them, and she stumbled backwards, blindly reaching out for a tree trunk to lean on. Her hand hit rough bark just as her sluggish feet almost tangled in something on the ground.

    “Oh gosh…Alec. It-…It’s you. Wha-What…?” Her voice trailed off as the pain began to overwhelm her. She leaned into the trunk and slid down onto the ground.

    Her right hand fell from her head and limply fell onto the ground. The skin on her palm registered the feeling of a soft, but thick fabric under her palm, and she looked down at it in bleary confusion. It’s his jacket. Was I laying on his jacket? But before she could think to ask, another wave of pain hit her. Her right hand curled into a fist, clutching at the black fabric.

    “Yes! It’s me Lillian. You’re gonna be alright.” Alec said. His voice had deepened so much that it was hard for Lillian to call it quiet, even though she could hear its subdued softness. She didn’t know why a sound that almost literally rumbled around her, could almost instantly make her relax.

    Her head felt like it had turned into a broken bowling ball, but she slowly made her grey eyes look up. Alec was sitting some twenty feet away from her, leaning against a tree trunk that looked like a pole for a game of horse-shoes, in comparison to the width of his shoulders. He was slightly turned away from her and covered in night time shadows, but a moment later he was facing her again. Her eyes fell to a large metal canteen that he had pulled off his belt and was now in his hand. Holding it in his long fingers, he twisted the cap off and quickly poured a small amount of whatever was in it, into the cap. He looked back up and his eyes met hers as he reached forward to offer the cap to her.

    “Here, drink this.” He said earnestly. His blue eyes stared levelly into hers, but she noticed how his eyebrows had raised upwards just slightly. It was the same open, and honest look he had always given her; always hoping she’d take was he was saying with trust. “This stuff keeps you from getting a concussion and will get rid of most of the pain. It burns on the way down, but I’m guessing you only need a sip of it.” A small smile slipped onto Alec’s face. “You’re not exactly the size of the usual patient who gets this stuff. Any chance you actually grew in the last few years?”

    Lillian grunted a weak laugh. “Don’t try and make me laugh…Ick. My head hurts so bad.” Her throat was dry, making her voice came out raspy. But she still had to smile at being able to use the nickname she had given him. ‘Ick’ from ‘Alec’. Not exactly clever, but it was a good way to get back at him for trying to say that ‘Little’ was a good nickname for ‘Lillian’.

    Her eyes fell back on the giant hand in front of her; from heel to fingertip, it was longer than any bed she had ever slept in, and it could’ve easily wrapped around her, with his fingers overlapping. Suddenly feeling uncharacteristically timid, she reached out and slipped her hands between Alec’s huge fingers. The long fingers slowly let go, leaving her with the surprisingly heavy cap in her hands; her skin almost burned from the sensation of his fingers slowly brushing over her hands and arms as he pulled his hand away.

    “So…What the hell happened Alec?” Lillian said, looking down at the dark liquid in the bucket like cap. She sniffed at it and instantly regretted it, her face scrunching up as the foul smell invaded her sinuses. “Do you know what those things were? I swear to God, I thought I was going to get eaten.”

    Screwing up her courage, she forced the cap to her lips and quickly drank a sip of the dark liquid. The small amount burned all the way down and she coughed violently, almost spilling the rest of the vile stuff all over herself.

    “Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you about that stuff.” He gave her a sympathetic smile and carefully took the cap back. When his fingers lightly touched her hand again, he paused. Both of them stared at how easily his fingers made her hands disappear beneath them. “Yah…Those things,” Alec said slowly and slightly shook his head. He sat back against the tree and screwed the cap back onto the canteen. “Those things are the newest, local menace. Actually, I almost didn’t make it in time to…get here…..save …you…..’cause of those things.” Alec had looked away the first time his words stopped midsentence. Lillian had seen his jaw clench and the emotional turmoil in his blue eyes before he had looked away. She watched him, feeling oddly breathless as the giant man seemed to gather his thoughts. “Those animals have suddenly boomed in population, and the lack of food for them all has made them go insane from their instincts. And ironically enough, it doesn’t seem to matter that they’re a smaller species. Normally, they’re violent and smart enough to be dangerous. And it now seems when they’re completely desperate, it triggers a hormone that makes them grow. And now…I guess they’re here now.”

    Alec’s eyes fixed on her again and she flinched. The expression in them was flat and stony, something she had never seen in his face before. It’s just one of those things that happen when we grow up I guess. Hopefully he hasn’t…become mean or something. She fidgeted and glanced away for a moment. She didn’t know how she was supposed to respond to all of that. She was still trying to get over being attacked by alien, bear-monkeys.

     Alec’s look softened with a small, embarrassed smile and he ran his fingers back through his hair. “Sorry. I just…had this bad feeling the entire flight home. And Creator help me, I can still hardly believe that…,” he paused midsentence, seemingly changing what he was going to say. Considering his looming height, the light from the fire didn’t quite fully illuminate all of his face, but Lillian almost thought she had seen a red tinge to Alec’s tanned cheeks. “…I just…can’t really believe that this whole issue with these animals has gotten this bad. I didn’t even go home to my family before I decided to come out here and check things out.”

     His smile became a mischievous grin, and his eyes held an almost serious laughter in them, making her remember the years they spent together. Lillian felt some tension suddenly release from her. She didn’t know when it had built, but she suddenly recognized the feeling; it was similar to when she was nervous at the beginning of a race, right before all the racers jumped forward on their bikes and the world narrowed to the bike under them, the track, the riders in their vision, and air rushing past them. She smiled back at him, idly wondering if she would finally reach the point when she would feel like how she did during the race and leave the tension behind her.

    “Yah,” she replied, “I actually did the same thing.” Lillian looked away, letting her eyes travel down to a spot near her legs and began to run her fingers through her hair, working out the tangles. For some reason, she felt almost reluctant to keep talking.

    “What do you mean?,” Alec asked. A blond eyebrow rose and he continued to smile down at her.

    Lillian bit at the inside of her lip and tried not to narrow her eyes suspiciously at him. So he’s playing that game again. Alec always had tried to find ways to make her talk. Days when she just became quiet, he’d find a way to play Twenty-Questions and keep her talking.

    She rolled her eyes and fought back a smile. “My mama has been stronger for the past few months, so me and my parents are moving back. Theyre actually probably going to be a little worried. I left them a few hours ago, and didn’t even stop at my grandparents before riding-…,” suddenly Lillian’s eyes widened as panic shot through her, “OH MY GOD. Where’s my bike?!!”

    She began to push herself up to her feet and looked around desperately, trying to find some sign of her motorcycle in the night covered forest. Images of it lying mangled and forgotten danced through her brain, and it broke her heart to think that she had forgotten about it for so long after. It had probably got torn to shreds by those stupid, crazy animals from another world.

    “Hey! Hold on Lillian! You’re going to pass out if you try to walk!” Alec quickly said, his voice suddenly ringing in her ears.

    Nausea hit Lillian hard even before Alec’s warning faded from her ears. Her face turned a sickly white and her muscles suddenly lost all their strength, sending her falling back onto her rear end with a painful smack. The world became a dizzy blur as it spun around her. She shut her eyes tightly closed, trying to ignore the sudden desire to throw up as she laid down and curled her knees up to her chest.

    She heard a large and worried grunt come all the way down from Alec. “Please just…stay still for awhile Lillian.”

    Embarrassment and annoyance suddenly hit her gut. After having been squirreled up into a tree, and then being rescued, now Alec was having to play doctor for her. Fighting back the sudden desire to cry, she laid there, trembling slightly and feeling too sick to reply.

    “You’re not sweating are you? Feel like you have a fever?” Alec’s voice sounded like it was hovering closer to her, and she almost swore that she could feel the rumbling tones hit her skin. Lillian shook her head and instantly regretted it, pain stabbing her head again. “That’s a good sign. I don’t know what I could do for you if you started to go into shock or get really sick.” His voice sounded slightly strained. She heard the sounds of clothing and earth shifting, noting with an odd feeling, at how now it was so much louder just listening to the giant move around. “Don’t worry about your…motorcycle? I think I remember the word right…Anyway, it’s right where you always park it and I really don’t think it was touched at all.  I set up a protected perimeter around us once those things broke off their attack. We’ll be fine till some time later tomorrow. It’s their pattern when some of the pack dies. And I was able to hurt the male enough before he took a chunk out of my leg. I swear to the blackest sun, that male was the largest I’ve seen. Easily as tall as my knee while he was still hunched over.”

    Lillian opened her eyes, letting the stretch of black jacket in front of them fill her vision. The firelight danced over the disheveled folds, the tops and flat planes full of bright light and casting deep shadows in the rumpled valleys.

    “One of those crazy things bit you?”  Her voice was reserved, but she tilted her head to look up into Alec’s face. Her neck and eyes reached the end of their movement range, and she could only see his thick neck and square chin. After a moment, his chin tucked into his chest and his torso slid down a couple of feet, his shirt disappearing as his face dropped into view.

    “Yah. But it’s not a problem. I’ll be okay to walk by morning. I took some different, gross tasting stuff for it.” A small smile spread across his face. The square angles of his face turned into a one that she remembered smiling down at her all those years back. But Lillian felt her stomach clench at the handsome warmth that was now there. “Hey. Do you remember the first time you had to come find me during Hide-and-Seek? Instead of you hiding and me looking for you?”

    “Oh geez,” Lillian laughed softly, “yah.” Her words seemed to still stick in her throat, feeling like a knot of peanut butter that she couldn’t swallow. Her smile faded a little and she bit the inside of her lip, looking away from her old friend. Catching motion out of the corner of her eye, her gaze fell onto his legs as they shifted. They stretched out towards her, his booted feet easily going past her; his knees settled several feet to the side of where she was laying.  

    “I remember that there really weren’t a lot of places for me to hide.” His voice had the edge of laughter in it as Alec continued right on. “So I decided to just lay down in the next clearing over, and pretend that I was sleeping. I thought it would probably get a good reaction out of you.” Alec laughed at the memory. His rumbling voice rolled over her again and she had to fight back a smile. “And, I defiantly remember this…tiny little girl yelling at me. Trying to tell me that I wasn’t playing right. I think that you pulled at my hair and demanded that I had to go and count. And when I started to laugh, you declared war or something, right before you climbed up on my arm, then my shoulder, and walked right onto my chest. You tried to yell at me again, but you fell over laughing at the look on my face. I mean, what doll size girl has the guts to climb up on a person like that?”

    Unable to hold back the smile, Lillian laughed and closed her eyes, shaking her head at the memory. She hadn’t even thought twice about climbing up Alec then. Now all of a sudden, she couldn’t even hold a normal conversation.

    Cringing at the thought, she tried to burry herself into the jacket spread out under her. But suddenly she saw a glimpse of tanned hands moving in the side of her vision. Sucking a gasp back into her lungs, she pushed herself up with her hands and looked up. His massive hands stopped a couple of feet away from her, palms up and his fingers relaxed. Lillian’s eyes paused on the hands, easily seeing that the few fingernails that were facing her were clean, though slightly uneven. It took a few moments, her eyes soaking in the details of the strong hands, before she finally looked up and met Alec’s eyes.

    The smile was still on Alec’s face, his lips turned up gently as he looked at her. But sadness edged his bright blue eyes, tightening them and almost giving him a serious look to his eyes.

    “You can still pretend to be mad at me, “ he said softly. His eyes glanced down at his hands and Lillian’s followed. Alec uncurled his fingers and put them closer to her. His huge hands hovered exceptionally close to her, but Lillian knew that he wouldn’t just grab her; by the tilt of them, how Alec made sure to keep them more than her arm’s length away, and how he patiently waited, she knew that he was waiting for her permission.

    Idiot. Lillian smiled and nodded, looking back up at Alec. The smile on his face turned into a large grin, and he nodded back.

    Lillian tensed slightly as she felt Alec carefully gather her up into his hands, the folds of his jacket wrapping around her before he brought her too far off the ground. The nausea came back and she tightly closed her eyes, hoping that her body would forget that it was moving till Alec was actually done moving her. But suddenly, she felt her body laying against something hard, and that was longer than she was. Her cheek came to rest on a flannel like cloth and warmth suddenly hit her. She shivered as the warmth rolled into her; she hadn’t even known that she had been so cold until right then. Alec’s hands left her body after a moment, leaving her wrapped up in his jacket, and fully resting against his torso.

    She instantly relaxed into the contours of Alec’s chest, exhaustion and familiarity knocking through any of the intimidation and unease she had been feeling. Her eyes stayed closed and her breathing started to deepen.

    “Thanks Alec.” Lillian said, half asleep already.

    “Of course Lillian.” Alec responded. He made sure to keep his voice soft, knowing that it would be even louder to the small woman who had an ear planted right on his chest. Titling his head, the giant looked Lillian with a pleased grin on his face. He brought a hand back up and gently placed it over her, reveling in the feeling of her form through the layers of his jacket. “You know,” he whispered to her, not knowing if she was still awake or not. “Everyone wondered why I’d graduate the military academy, and just go back home. Back to the backwards planet I grew up on. Almost everyone just wants to get off places like home, and then never go back. They never even thought that I’d…” Face softening, Alec paused. He slowly moved his thumb and lightly touched Lillian’s shoulder, letting it rest there as she continued to sleep. “…They never even thought that I’d have someone to find. Someone important enough to risk dead-ending my career. …I guess the career isn’t so important to me after all. Not if I couldn’t find the one person who was the entire reason I picked the military anyway… Chose to patrol a planet with almost no issues…Sticking with it when the outbreaks were reported…And all I could pray to the Creator for, was that I could find you again. I’ll always feel blessed that I was able to in time. No matter what else happens with us Lillian…I…”

    Lillian shifted and Alec stopped trying to end his thought, holding his breath as he watched her finally settle, rubbing her cheek into his shirt. A small blush tinged Alec’s face. He silently watched her, his thumb absently rubbing up and down her arm. A screeching cry echoed in the distance and Alec turned his eyes to watching the shadows around their camp, all the while his thumb continued rubbing Lillian’s tiny arm.
~~*~~
    Lillian took a deep breath and finished checking the ties that held her pack to her motorcycle. They had been secure and still holding her green pack in place when she had staggered over to her motorcycle right after waking up. She had given the bike a good look over, slowly feeling a glee-full once she realized that it was perfectly alright. But she still gave them one last, useless tug, not sure of what else to do.

    Less than an hour ago, she had woken up to Alec gently shaking her. Dreams of a strong breeze and laughter slowly faded from her exhaustion, thickened brain as he laid out his plan to her. She had nodded and done her best to follow what he was saying. But after splashing some lake water on her face, the two of them had quickly set out. Alec had thought it was unlikely they’d be attacked again so soon, but he still wanted to follow her as far as the dirt road, and make sure she at least got there safely. She had ridden at a slightly slower pace than usual, but Alec had easily kept up with her as she backtracked to the dirt road that led to the highway.

    Both of them had paused when the dirt road became visible just through the trees ahead. Without a word, she had cut her engine and sat there, fiddling with her jacket and pulling off her gloves. She had finally just gotten off and needlessly checked her pack again.

    Lillian silently considered her hands, the last knot holding the pack down still under them. Alec’s black boots where just in the side of her vision, occasionally shifting. Biting her lip, she slipped her hand into her pack and pulled out her mother’s old cap. Running her fingers over the stitched-on patch, she wondered if Alec was starting to get impatient waiting for her to go.

    Probably not. He’s probably just confused as to why I haven’t ran away yet. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in years, and I barely said anything to him at all. …Now, he’s just keeping his distance this morning. I almost remember having a conversation with him last night, but I fell asleep so…quickly. Lillian blushed as she remembered the feeling of lying on top of Alec’s chest. She had never felt so small in her life, and yet she had felt instantly and utterly safe. I just knocked out last night…And now I’m just gonna go?

    Her hands curled into fists, clenching the cap in them. She shook her head and disbelief at how she had been feeling spread through her. “No. Not like this,” she whispered. Lillian didn’t even notice the knot of tension and unease suddenly releasing. Carefully tucking the cap back underneath a canvas strap, she spun around, tilting her head back and looking up.

    Alec‘s hands were in his jacket pockets, balancing with them absently planted on his stomach as he stood on his toes and craned his neck. “Hunh,” he said nonchalantly, “I can actually see down the side of the mountain now. I think I see your town.” A small amount of wonder crept into his voice.

    Stepping right up to Alec’s boots, Lillian grinned. “Better make sure they don’t see you though.”

    Alec’s heels hit back down onto earth, making the ground shake. He had to dig his chin into his chest as he looked down at Lillian, surprise written across his features as he saw that she was standing almost right in-between his feet. “You…You got a point I guess.”

    Still easily smiling up at him, she crossed her arms over her chest. Carelessly, she lightly kicked the solid toe of the boot closest to her. It dully gleamed just like the pair of boots he had been wearing the first time they met.

    “’Course I do. But besides my obvious genius, I wanted to see what you thought about me bringing my family up here. Maybe we all meet here around this time, three days from now? I don’t know how much help you’ll need, but I’m not gonna let you go after those animals alone. Even if we’re not space-men like you, we’ve got a couple of good shots between us.” Lillian’s smile turned into a mischievous grin. “And I think it’d be nice for them to finally meet the ‘imaginary friend’ I told them about as a kid.”

    “Unh…Yah. Yah, okay. I guess that could work.” Alec said, still stunned at Lillian’s sudden change.

    “Of course it will.” She replied, her voice becoming soft as she smiled up at him. “Well,” she looked away for a moment and raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him, “are you gonna come down here and hug me, or am I going to have to ride off with you just watching me like some kind of weirdo?”

    Alec looked down at her with a completely stunned expression and his blue eyes blinked in an almost vacant way. But a smile slowly replaced his surprise. It reached up to his eyes, making them narrow as the smile widened, and he suddenly look down at her from his huge height with a deeply felt delight shining from their bright color.

    Alec laughed and kneeled down, his knees hitting the ground on either side of Lillian. His hands quickly moved towards her, one cupping under her and the other carefully curved around her back as her weight settled in his palm.  Lillian gasped at the sudden change and feeling skin underneath her hands. She grasped onto one of his fingers and clutched it with both of her hands; it had been so long since she had really interacted with the giant, that a deeply instinctual fear tried to push its way to the surface.  But she looked back up at Alec, and her worries vanished again. He held her in front of his face and it filled her vision, the warm and practically gleeful grin on his face instantly putting her at ease.

    “There you are,” he said softly. “There’s my Lillian. My Little.” The grin on Alec’s face took on a roguish gleam as he used the nickname she hated.

    “Hey!” Lillian laughed and reached out to swat at Alec’s chin. She hoped that he didn’t see how badly she was blushing. She suddenly completely knew how strongly she actually felt for the man, but she still couldn’t be sure if he felt the same. “Yah, try to bring that one back and I’ll have to start calling you ‘Ick’ again.”

    Alec just chuckled in response. Moving carefully, he brought his hands closer to himself, gently hugging Lillian to his neck. She gasped again, her breath sharply drawing inward as she was securely held against Alec, feeling for the second time the warmth that radiated from him; her blush deepened as she realized that she could feel the complete firmness and strength of the muscle underneath Alec’s shirt.

    “I think I can deal with that,” he said in an ironically bland voice. It rumbled underneath Lillian, and she pressed her face closer to Alec’s neck to savor the feeling. “Just tell me. No more moving, right?” His voice became whisper soft.

    Lillian suddenly felt tears build up in her eyes. She could actually feel Alec’s pulse quicken underneath her cheek. “Nope. No more moving. We’re here to stay…As long as we…we’re wanted. That is…I mean, as long as…My grandparents need us. You know?” Sniffling, she bit the insides of her lips to stop herself from rambling anymore. She had never felt so flustered in her life; as if there was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to ask, and so much she wanted to just hear him say. She turned her face to burry it closer into Alec. The feeling of his pulse quickening again was the only thing that kept her from making a sarcastic comment and trying to get away as fast as possible.

    “Good.” Alec said calmly, as if he hadn’t heard Lillian’s awkward reply. He took in a deep breath, the degree his chest expanded sent oddly pleased shivers down Lillian’s skin. “’Cause I think it’d be rather hard to try and follow you, if you did. Probably just end up being completely awkward if I had to drag you back, don’t you think?” He pulled away from Lillian and tilted his head downward to grin at her.

     “Oh man…Hell yah. That would be a really bad thing. A giant space-man, asking for directions when everyone runs away, thinking he was gonna do something real bad?” Lillian laughed. “Now THAT sounds like an episode of Twilight Zone.”

    Head tilting to the side, Alec’s blond eyebrows scrunched in confusion over his still smiling face. “The Twilight’…What? Zone?”

    Lillian laughed harder. “The Twilight Zone, idiot.” She reached up and wiped a small amount of tears from her eyes. “I’ll explain it later. Believe me, once you get it and meet my parents, you’ll laugh too.”

    Unable to hide his amusement, Alec rolled his eyes and laughed softly. “If you say so Little.” His blue eyes considered the small woman in his hands for a moment, and ignoring the worry that yelled in his brain, trying to make him reconsider before he scared Lillian again, he leaned in close and gently kissed the side of her face.

    Lillian’s eyes snapped open at the touch, and she almost leaned away to look up at him in surprise. But the instinct almost instantly flew away as pure intensity swept in. She turned her face into the kiss and touched her own lips to his upper one. She only had two other kisses to compare the experience too, and with out any doubt in her mind, Lillian knew that she would always choose this one. This complete, overwhelming touch of his lips that undeniably told her, this gentle man would always choose her, and do anything for her.

    Remembering the need to breathe, Lillian pulled away first, feeling slightly dazed. Alec brought his hands up higher, carefully resting the bridge of his nose against Lillian’s forehead as he steadied his own breathing. Drooping against him, Lillian let her upper body completely rest against the giant holding her. A smile quickly came to her face as she suddenly realized what she had to say.

    Running her hand back through the messy locks of hair that had fallen onto her face, she shifted till she could look into Alec’s eyes. The huge grin on her face hid some of the wonder she felt at seeing the blue of his eyes at such a close distance.

    “That was pretty nova, Ick.” Lillian simply said.

    Alec snorted in response, the space between his eyebrows furrowing together again. It quickly changed into laugh that built up somewhere deep inside till it rumbled it’s way out. It washed over Lillian, making her ears ring a little at how loud it was, but she instantly started to laugh with him.

    Alec and Lillian both kept laughing, unable to hold it back even if they had wanted too. All the of the things they knew they should worry about was lost to the moment, both quietly thanking God for making something impossible happen. They were finally together again.