After War Storm

Cal

I wake to the sound of crying. I stretch and open my eyes which land on Mare holding a crying Ti. She is so beautiful; I still can't believe she is here, with me.

"Morning," I smile brightly at her.
"Morning. How was your night?" Mare asks biting her lip.
"Interesting," I answer. "I thought a fight had broken out and I almost got electrocuted by the girl I love but then I got to spend the rest of the night with her so overall, it was very good. How about you?" I almost laugh as Mare blushes a deep scarlet before she answers.
"Very much the same only I almost electrocuted the boy I love rather than nearly getting electrocuted myself." She'd said love.

"Do you get them a lot?" I ask seriously. I hope she doesn't . My nightmares weren't that frequent anymore but when I got them they were awful.
"Get what a lot?" Mare asks, though I'm sure she knows what I was talking about. She sets Ti back in his cot and makes her way over to the bed. I pat the spot next to me and Mare sits down.
"The nightmares," I clarify.
"Do you get them?" she asks, dodging my question.

"Yes," I admit after a slight pause. "They are mainly about him hurting you." I can't say his name. Not after everything. My hand brushed lightly along Mare's collarbone and pulled down her shirt collar to reveal the M Maven had branded her with years ago.

My fingers trace the burn before I pull away my hand dropping at my side. It has grown hot without me meaning to.

"There was a part of me," I whisper "that thought you would have got rid of it. But I'm not sure why I ever thought you would. Though I don't know why you'd keep it. If he plagues you so much in your dreams, and that's only my guess as to what you have nightmares about, then I don't know why you'd try and hold on to any part of him, why not just let it all go?"
"You think I don't want to let it go, let him go?" Her voice was growing louder.
"No Mare-" She stands abruptly from the bed. She interrupts me. "Like you didn't want to hold on to every piece of him that you could! You always saw the good side in him and you haven't let him go either. You have nightmares about him too so why say I'm not letting go?"
"Mare-" I try to reach for her hand but she yanks it away.
"You don't even know if I have tried to get over it all or not. You haven't asked me one question about anything I have done in the last two years." I wanted to. It had been one night for goodness sake.

I rise from the bed so we are both standing. "It's not my fault you're too stubborn to write otherwise we'd know exactly what was going on with each other. What life was like, what problems we'd faced, how we were dealing with everything that had happened." Both of our voices had grown louder. "Well, it's not my fault you were too stubborn either. I'm not the only one who could have done more." Mare pauses and takes a deep breath before speaking again. "You know what?"
"What?" I ask.
"I can't do this right now, I'm going to find Eve. I came back so you could meet Ti and we could see how everything is between us now and how far we'd go this time. Maybe this is it." I freeze. She can't leave now; I've only just gotten her back.

"Mare!" I call when she reaches the door, holding Ti. She didn't turn as she walked out he door. "Mare!" I yell again. I stand at the door staring at her as she walks away from me. I wantto go after her, but I don't want to make anything worse. She can't leave straight away. I'll give her a couple of hours to cool off then go and find her.

-~-

There is a knock on my door about an half an hour later and I rush to answer it. I hope it is Mare but when I open the door I feel my face fall slightly.

"Well, it's nice to see you too," Uncle Julian says stepping inside.
"Sorry, what is it Uncle?"
"We have a council meeting now and you weren't there so I was sent to find you."
"I completely forgot!"
"Well we need to go so hurry up and change."