In Love With A Charmed One

Chapter 24

After the hug had finished there was no need for us to talk verbally about our feelings or say anything comforting to the other as that had been expressed through our bond. Instead I went into my room and retrieved Chris' tie-dyed things before we made our way down the stairs.

We had both agreed to tell everyone else about the intruder but we knew that nothing much would be said between us tonight as these confrontations always left us feeling drained. I don't know who was more tired, Chris because of his dark feelings and needing to feel protected or me for being his rock and sharing with him my protectiveness of him. At least it was the weekend now and we could both bounce back from this and lucky for us school had decided that Monday would be a day of no school, so we had a three day weekend instead of two days.

"How are you feeling?" Chris asked as we walked side-by-side down the stairs. I rubbed my eyes and looked at him.

"Tired but better than I was yesterday. You've seen that I had no more side effects" he nodded but grimaced.

"You know that wasn't what I meant" he replied quietly but I heard him. We both stopped halfway down the last set of steps while I frowned. I actually thought that was what he meant but I looked deeper and searched for the answer to his question. I decided to not tell him and shrugged.

"Okay why?" he looked at me and I looked back innocently. He shook his head.

"I know that I freak you out when that happens" he replied and I could tell that he felt guilty. I touched his upper arm. He turned and looked up at me from the step below as he had been facing the parlour while we spoke. Luckily everyone had relocated to the living room and so wouldn't be able to hear us talking if we kept our voices down.

"I can handle it. You just worry me that's all. I care about you so much and I hate knowing that it was my fault why this happened tonight. Though I suppose your feelings need to come out sometimes" I said looking into his eyes. They were bright but not as bright, and I saw that he was sad. He cringed when I said this. He hated me worrying about him. I had gathered as much from when we first became bonded but he knew what I meant. He knew that I knew those feelings never went away and that he did in fact keep them buried, only escaping because I was the only one that could handle it. Ironic much? I'm the one that can handle the brothers' mood swings the best and I'm a girl. Wow.

"Yeah I suppose. I don't mean to worry you though" he replied. I sensed that he felt the need to explain himself.

"Do you still wanna talk?" I asked him and he considered it before nodding so I sat down on my step and he sat next to me. "-Chris you should know that I worry. I worry about the smallest thing, but it doesn't bother me because I know that it's times like these when you need me more than I need you. It's why we're bonded." He smiled at me, relief on his face and he stared down at his hands so to offer him comfort I did something I had never done before when this happened. I reached across and touched his hand. He over turned it and we stayed like that just holding each other's hand in silence for a few minutes, before he said;

"But still it's how I am. You know I was disgusted with myself, so badly that I felt the bile in my throat rise. When you said that you were scared it made me wanna laugh that I was scaring you. I took pleasure from it. Then when you said that you were scared for me, it made me realise that you do care about me" I nodded, understanding what he meant before realising what he had said. I felt shocked and it must've shown on my face because Chris looked horrified with himself.

"You should feel ashamed Christopher. You should know by now that I care about you. I don't tell you for the sake of it you know, it's not a put on. I'm always here for you, if you need to lean on me you can and I always will be here" I said and saw that Chris brightened when I said this. He pulled me into our normal bone crushing 'thank you' hug and I kissed his cheek just as I pulled away. We grinned at each other before standing back up and walking down the last few steps, making our way towards the living room.