| Chapter Twenty-One: |

Give me a minute now to figure out my state...

Malia plunged into the blackness, and took off. Brian saw her move for the door, but once she allowed the blackness to surround her she was nothing but a dream again.

Brian rolled a glass in between the palms of his hands. No, he couldn't understand - wasn't the asking too much? He loved her, yes. They were bound to each other. Their love was something that was unfailing, and it was something that would not leave, no matter how many times they tried to shed it.

So they were stuck together. He could deal with that. No one said they had to hold each other under the stars, no one said they had to lie close together, not together physcially, but emontionally. Fine. He could deal with that. Half his mind screamed that he would be fine. The other half lay quiet, knowing what was coming. That's why he didn't flinch when he dropped the glass on the hard tabletop, watching it shatter. And that is why he did not flinch when he picked the largest piece up, touching the tapered tip of the glass. And when he rolled his shirt up, and scraped a bit of flesh from his side, he didn't mind.

It was just a long, long time coming, that was all.

* * * * *

From under shadow she crawls,
From under shadow she finds a way,
From under shadow she crawls...

Malia felt one foot hit the sand as she jumped off the lowest step of Brian's deck. Her ankle gave way beneath her, with a satisfying grinding sound. She shook it off and started running, knowing no matter how fast or how long she ran, she still wasn't going to be able to leave all her problems behind. At least she now had a start.

Panting, she allowed the night to wrap its arms around her.