Sometime around two in the morning, Cordelia woke up from a nightmare and found herself sitting up and gasping for air. When she turned to wake up Blake and inform him, she realized that he was so far gone into sleep mode, there would be no way of waking him. As best as possible, she got out of bed and went to her father's coat, picked it up and pulled it on while slipping her feet into her flats. Even though Blake told her to stay indoors, she wanted to put her feet in the cold sand so she could regain herself from the anxiety caused by what she saw in her dream. As she made her way out to the front door, she noticed the t.v. in the other bedroom was on and was amazed that some things never changed for Sawyer.
Cordelia grabbed the flashlight off the hook by the door and slipped out onto the porch, closing the door as quietly as possible. She took her time getting down the stairs, and then hurried to the side gate, unlocking it with the pin code and walked out, leaving the gate open so she could return without having to make so much noise.
One thing she had always loved about their beach house was that it wasn't too far from the private section of the beach; that this beach was off limits to the public. Only her family and the surrounding homes were allowed to access it and each house was spread out far enough so that no one could hear their neighbors, but also close enough to run to during an emergency.
Cordelia bounded down the sloap to the flat sands, kicked off her flats and squished the sand between her toes as she looked out as far as she could with the flashlight. When she lowered her arm, she took in a deep breath of fresh, salty air and imagined what it would be like if she lived there with Blake for the rest of their lives. She could picture them taking their kids down to the beach every day to collect sand dollars and shells; have friendly people come into the local shops and befriend every owner so they knew their kids were always going to be safe. Their dinners would mostly be out on the back patio and they could watch the whales anytime they wanted, just as much as they could with the seals.
Everything she imagined felt right to her, more so than when they were kids. Even seeing Sawyer and Libby being a neighbor brought joy to her heart. Their kids would grow up together and never have to worry about the city life for as long as they lived on that private beach.
The waves sounded like music to her ears as they crashed against each other and crept up onto the moist sand. She shivered when it hit her feet and decided that it was time to go back in. There was nothing that was going to get in her way of having the life she always dreamed of; not one mistake, not a single person...
Cordelia jumped and tried to pull away from the person that forced her to turn around and held her arms tightly. "Get off me!" She yelled as she started to kick him.
"Cordie. Calm down. Let me explain." Noah's voice ranged out as he tried to get her to stop fighting him.
"I told you I want nothing to deal with you."
"Would you just listen to me." He yanked her back to his body when she tried to escape and shook her hard. "Dammit, just stop."
She stopped fighting and looked up, unable to look into his eyes. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Cordelia, they're not telling you the truth."
"The truth about what? You?"
"Yes, and everything that has to deal with the time you spent at the clinic."
"Why would they lie to me and why would I trust you?"
"Because I'm the only one who saved you from that place. They put you in there. Cordie, I'm an undercover cop. You were my assignment. I lost my job when you walked away, but I knew that I couldn't allow you to live another lie." He finally let go of her arms and allowed her to take a few steps back, shielding his eyes when she shone the flashlight into them.
