BUBBLE

6 - crashing into you

Walking up the hill escalated the heart rate of the elderly woman who was reminded how quickly she had truly aged. Her legs weren't as muscular as they once were when exercises felt like nothing to her. Now and then, she felt she needed a moment or two to regain her strength and complete her steps. Björn's chuckle was warm and never so far away. He had extended his hand and taken her ski sticks and then pulled her up by the arm to help her up on the last bit of her leap.

"Not so bad. You made it," he encouraged. He looked back at the short climb she faced, of which she had much to complain about. The hill was not steep and not more than five steps to stand on top of. Björn's face was expressive as he looked back to her, bringing in his bottom lip to bite on as he kept the words he thought to himself. Her eyes drifted from her path, the footprints in the snow and to his eyes to see what look he had on his face.

"What? Don't look at me like that."

"Not looking at you like anything. I'm sure that climb was just as difficult as you made it look." She rolled her eyes jokingly and moved on, continuing her walk. One step had her slide just a tad bit and Agnetha was saved from a fall by Björn's quick grip on her arm.

"Careful," he reminded her.

"What ever made us go on this long of a walk? What was I thinking?"

"You didn't want me to go skiing, and you had the very wise thought of a walk instead. Now you don't want to walk?" he questioned her complaints.

"No, I want to walk. If you'd gone skiing and the kids all had their own things what am I left to do?"

"So it's not that you were really afraid for me," he came to realize, smiling like he couldn't have been more glad she had just said it. "Why don't you admit it? You just wanted someone to keep you company. Me," Björn clarified. He laughed, both of them marching along in the snow.

"No," she denied. "I would have been fine. If you went skiing with them, I would have gone to a spa or something. I'd done something else. I'd still have walked. I doubt this much... But actually, it's not so bad," Agnetha shared. "I love walking. I would get bored and rather more tired if I were sitting at the lodge and doing nothing instead."

"So there we go," he smiled. He was pleased that most of their walk her hand was curled around his arm. It felt more of a grip and like she was dependent on his stable movement over hers. They had been walking for twenty minutes at least, along a path that was led by trees shaped together creating an arch people could walk beneath. They had looked behind them and seen people from a distance at the size of ants around the ski village, some coming down the mountain towards them and others taking lifts back to the top. People passed them by, too, but on completely different paths.

"I promised..." he acknowledged. Agnetha paused and looked at him, and then comprehended the meaning. Björn hadn't predicted how deep it would go so he started steadily.

She had only asked him once since they left the igloo if he was going to tell her, but they got caught up with Christian interrupting them as he was just about to start. That wasn't going to work. The opportunity was given anew now that they are on a walk, just the two of them, and they had all the time.

"It hasn't been the easiest, you know," he began, thinking he had to start somewhere. "Maybe it looked more put together from the outside. It's never as it seems. There was always something." He paused and she hadn't spoken. "I guess we both became a bit burnt out by not getting what each of us really wanted. We always made the effort. We stayed as a team. We still are a team in spite of the fact that it can't go on anymore, pretending it isn't what it had become."

"You never showed it, Björn," Agnetha said. "I mean, it's more surprising to me because you never once showed the tension. I haven't seen it in years, so it's... just surprising."