Not Letting Go

Chapter 25

Max slept soundly until the sun began to rise and in her dreams she was screaming out Kate's name, afraid for her, but not knowing why. She sat up in bed, woken by this sudden nightmare. Looking over, Kate was there, her slumber slightly disturbed by the brunette's movements. For a moment, Max was very distracted by how beautiful Kate looked curled up beside her, but then she thought back to what woke her up.

She could not remember the dream. It did not feel like a vision, and it was not Jefferson or the tobanga, but being concerned about Kate being in danger felt just as bad as any nightmare and worse. She was safe though. Still, Max began to worry until an idea came. Carefully slipping out from their untwined legs, Max crept out of bed and reached her bag. She pulled out her camera and then went to the other side of the room where she pulled out an empty photo album.

I don't even know if this would work if I needed it to, butit can't hurt to try to be prepared...

Coming up close to Kate, Max framed her in the camera's view and took a picture. The sound and flash startled the blonde for a moment, enough to let Max slip the photo into the album which she then put under the bed.

Kate had an annoyed face and looked down as Max stood up by the bed.

"Wha...what are you doing?"

"Nothing, sorry...I didn't mean to wake you."

Kate made a morning moan and stretched before saying, "Wait...did you just take a picture of me?"

Max looked down sheepishly and said, "Umm...yeah. Sorry for being a creeper."

"No, no, that's great...I'm glad your doing it again some more since...the bus." Kate yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, uh...yeah. I guess so."

"Can I see it?"

"Let's save it for later," the brunette said playfully.

Max got back into bed and they were instantly back in each other's arms staring at each other lovingly. Kate swept the brunette's hair back and said, "Em...I...I can tell you want to kiss me."

Max's mouth popped open just a little, caught in her painfully obvious thoughts. She couldn't speak.

"It's okay, I want to kiss you too, um...you have no idea...but someday we will be kissing so much that and we'll lose count of them by the first day....but...the next one...I just want to be special. I already messed up the first one...and the second that never happened...but I'm not just here with you because you're so beautiful and...make me want to do...unspeakable things to you, I want to do this right. I don't want to scare you away, but...I want this to last...forever." Her last word was almost a whisper and she looked away afraid to see the other's reaction.

Max quickly reassured her, saying, "I want that too, Katie." She knew that Kate asking her before to never leave was more about not suddenly disappearing than a long term comittment. The relief was apparent in the blonde's sudden deep inhale and slow exhale.

Kate turned back to her, her eyes a little glassy with emotion, and they just shared a look of love for a few precious seconds. Kate spoke next, saying, "So...I want the next kiss to really remind me of how and why I feel...loved by you. Is that okay?"

"Of course, Katie...I told you we can take it slow, but when the moment comes...we will kiss and I will make sure you know exactly how much I love you."

"Thank you, Em..."

"Anything for my angel. You really are the purest thing."

"Kate first smiled shyly, but said, "You wouldn't say that if you knew even half my thoughts about you."