I completely ransacked my apartment. I had never felt so many emotions racing through my body at one time. Anger, confusion, disappointment, longing, regret, hopelessness and even love, as out of place as it was, it was still there warring right alongside the rest. It consumed me as I smashed dishes, threw pillows, upturned tables. Screams tore from my throat unlike anything that had ever come from me before. They were the sounds of someone mortally wounded and entirely desperate.
The door crashed open and I was tackled to the ground, eyes squeezing shut, by a large unyielding force. I fought to get away but they just pinned me to the ground. My eyes popped open and there, holding me down was Ripley, fear and concern had now replaced the anger, although I suspected it was still there somewhere.
"Sh sh sh, Callie, it's okay. Callie, calm down. I'm here. Please, please. Look at me. Focus on me. I'm sorry. I went too far Callie, I went too far. Forgive me. I never meant to say that. I was so angry and frustrated with how you aren't willing to pull yourself together." The desperation in his voice had tears spilling over and rolling down the sides of my face as I stared up into his eyes.
His strong hands grasped my cheeks, as he dipped his head to kiss my forehead. Over and over he cooed trying to calm the storm of emotions that had been unleashed inside of me. The more he spoke the more my breaths slowed, my heart stopped its breakneck pace and my mind began to calm. But the tears wouldn't stop. They rolled on and spilled forth as if the dam had been blown asunder.
Feather light kisses fanned out from my forehead, to my cheeks, my chin, even my flooded eyes until finally they alighted on my lips. Warm and dry, his lips gently pressed to mine slowly increasing in pressure as my mind caught on. Ripley was kissing me. And it was breathtakingly good.
My body reacted to his touch like fire igniting paper, hot and fast my blood raced in my veins and soon I was grasping at his hair pulling him deeper into the kiss. His body hovered over mine gently pinning me to the ground. Our breaths became heavy as we struggled to catch our breaths in this act of desperation. That is what this kiss was, and we both knew it. His desperation to get through to me and mine to hold on to what was laid before me.
All too soon he pulled back and stared into my face. The heat prevalent in his eyes, but then his look turned serious. "Callie, I....I." I reached up and placed a shaking finger to his lips.
"It's okay Ripley. I understand. I think I get it now."
"I don't think you do. You are a second chance for me Cal, and...and I could be one for you, in time. I can't lose you. I won't. You have to claim a soul. Do it for me, for Link, Brian, hell anyone, I don't care who it's for at this point. Just do it. Please. Everything else we can figure out later. I can give you all the time in the universe, because, well, we have that much time. I just need you to want to move forward. I won't push you for anything other than to train and become strong and whole. Just choose to do this with me, us." He pressed his forehead to mine and began to laugh but the sound was hollow. "Do you see what you've done to me? You made me desperate and I really don't care. All I want is for you to stay, make the choice for you to stay."
I stared at him for a moment before pulling back and bringing him down beside me curling into his side. We laid there for what felt like hours. Me with my head on his chest listening to the thrumming sound of his heart and him running his hand soothingly through my hair. Everything he said replayed through my mind and it slowly wove threads of strength through my body.
I had made my choice, and it was the right one, the only one, but I needed to build the strength to carry out my decision. With the bonds I had formed with Link and this beautiful man beside me, I knew I would somehow get through whatever came in the future.
