*****

*This is going to be a wonderful night,* Lucy thought as she lit the last few candles and taped a note to the door. She looked back out the window to check that she had everything, then turned on the stereo, hitting the "Programme One" button before she went into the kitchen, hiding herself in the darkness, yet very able to see when the blonde would come in.

She already had all the music programmed into the memory. The fifth song of the Delbes opera Lakme began, floating through the house and out through the door to Lucy's private beach access.

She heard Renee's Saturn pull up outside and glanced at her clock. *Six twenty eight. Damn, she's good.*

*****

*Six twenty nine. Damn, I'm good...* thought the blonde as she locked the car, her wallet inside, and started towards Lucy's door. She felt her heart pitter-patter and forced the smile off her face.

She saw the piece of paper taped to the door and her heart sank. *Is something wrong?* she asked herself as she looked at it.

Come in. Follow the candles.

Renee took the note off the door and walked in, intrigued. She closed her eyes, letting herself get swept up in the music Lucy had playing. *Mmm...Lakme...what's she tryin' to do to me?* she asked herself rhetorically...she had a pretty good idea of what the raven haired woman had in mind.

The blonde closed and locked the door behind her and put her keys and the note on a table under the mirror Lucy had checked herself in not more than five minutes ago. She ran her fingers through her hair, then tucked it behind her ears. Smoothing out her skirt, she turned away and saw the candles, noticing that they lead outside to the table Lucy had outside on a small concrete platform.

She followed Lucy's directions, but when she was outside, her co-star was no where to be seen.

*****

When she saw Renee walk into her house and adjust her hair and skirt, Lucy's breath caught in her throat. *God...she is beautiful,* she thought as she stealthily crept up behind the blonde, a surprise held gingerly between her fingers.

She noticed that Renee was about to turn around so she took a giant step forward and wrapped her left arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Hello, love," Lucy quietly purred into her ear, making Renee instantly melt into the embrace. Her other arm wrapped around Renee around to present a single red rose. The blonde turned within the long arms wrapped around her and looked up into the cerulean depths.

"Hi there yourself..." Renee smiled, pressing herself into the chest of the raven haired woman. She pulled away and lightly twirled the rose between her thumb and fingers. "Thank you."

"My pleasure," Lucy smiled as she bent and kissed the blonde softly. She put her arm around her and lead her to the table, where the Chinese was all set out. The candles in the middle of the table were already lit and fluttering in the gentle breeze.

She pulled out the chair for Renee, then took her own seat. "You look great," Lucy said. *Not that you don't normally or anything.*

The blonde smiled. "You must be telepathic..."

"Why's that?"

"I was just thinking the same thing about you," she replied, shyly. *I feel so stupid...so perfectly, wonderfully stupid.*

*She's so cute when she's goofy,* thought Lucy as she poured Renee a glass of wine. "I hope you like what I got."

Renee surveyed the feast before them, her eyes finishing their journey on Lucy. "I sure do."

Blushing, they each began to eat their dinners, their thoughts continually roaming to the woman opposite, a mere table's length away. The music eventually changed from the opera to a slow Stevie Nicks song, "Crystal". The blonde closed her eyes in appreciation of the atmosphere.

"Do you always trust your first initial feeling
Special knowledge holds truth.
Bears believing.
I turned around
And the water was closing all around
Me like a glove
Like the love that had finally
Finally found me
And I knew
In the crystalline knowledge of you."

She opened her eyes near the middle of the song to look at the woman across from her. Renee found herself being studied with a simmering blue hunger as she stood up and walked over to Lucy, her hand outstretched.

"Drove me through the mountains
To the crystal like a clear water fountain
Drove me like a magnet
To the sea
To the sea."

Lucy had forgotten all about her meal, distracted by a different hunger, as she looked at the blonde woman standing in front of her. The feeling returned from the emerald green sent the raven haired woman's heart racing. She stood, taking Renee's in her own shaking hand, and they started dancing, neither leading the other, just letting the song take them over and dictate their moves. It seemed as if they had been dancing together for a lifetime or two.

"How the faces of love have changed
Turning the pages
I have changed all but you
You remain ageless.
I turn around
And the water was closing
All around
Like a glove
Like the love
That had finally, finally found me
And I knew
In the crystalline waters of you."

Renee looked up into Lucy's eyes, her knees going weak with thoughts of the woman holding her.

"Drove me through the mountains
Through the crystal like a clear water fountain.
Drove me like a magnet
To the sea
To the sea.

I turn around and the water
Is closing around me."

Lucy bent down and softly kissed the blonde. They separated and the raven haired woman moved behind Renee and wrapped her arms around her, both watching the sun as it set on another day, each mind in sharp focus on the other. Only two thoughts disturbed them...

Renee turned in Lucy's arms and kissed her, deeply.

"Hold that thought, hon. We've gotta talk," said Lucy. Renee leaned back, puzzled, and looked into the burning cobalt blue as she was lead back to her seat.

*She looks nervous,* thought the blonde as Lucy brought her chair around the table to sit next to her.

"Ren, love...I wanted to see you tonight so we could talk about what's going on.
"I love you and that's not going to change. I'd like for us to tell Rob and Steve."

Renee nodded and was about to say something when one of Lucy's hands came up and touched her lips. "I've got something else to say first.
Something that you are definately not going to like."

The raven haired woman took a deep breath. "I think I'm pregnant."

The blonde's eyes saucered and all the blood rushed from her face. "W-what? Pregnant?"

"The last time Rob and I slept together was a week or two before we filmed 'Tsunami'.
"I am, of course, keeping the baby, but I want us to be together Ren...you and I."

Lucy stood and followed a dazed Renee as she grabbed her things and walked out the door.

"You're going to leave me over this? You and I weren't even together when it happened."

The blonde turned around. "A week or two before 'Tsunami'? Hon, we had started a while before that...I mean, I haven't slept with Steve since you got amnesia.
"In that cave, I realized that I didn't love him, I loved you. I didn't think it would be fair to either of you."

Lucy hung her head, feeling guilty that the thought hadn't really crossed her mind. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"To be completely honest
Scares me to imagine
What life will be without you
And for this very reason
I ask you to forgive me
For what I'm putting us through."

Clenching her jaw, Renee sighed. "Listen, why don't I go home tonight and I'll talk to you when your husband reschedules the cast party, okay?
"We both need to cool down and think a little." With that, the blonde got into her car and sped away.

"Although there's so many things against us
I've decided
That I'm not giving you up.
Oh no."

Lucy didn't know what to think. She loved Renee very much, but what does it say that she didn't touch Steve again since that night in the cave? The raven haired woman sat in a chair and put her face in her hands, her head beginning to ache, echoing the hurt in her heart.

"Thinking back I see
What we have is something different.
I think we've known all along.
So how fair will it be to divide this love's existance
Between what's right and what's wrong?"

Lucy looked at her stereo in disgust and snatched the remote from the table next to her.

"And you're always wondering if we'll make it
Time will tell you
But I'm not giving you up."

Silently, Lucy cursed at the remote. *Too many damn buttons and not enough fucking light in here,* she thought as she pushed random buttons trying to shut it off. Instead, it seemed as though every button was linked to the volume.

"Oh no no!
We'll find a way together
However long it takes
Whatever
If it means having you for only a moment."

*Rob just HAD to have the stereo with a lot of buttons,* she commented to herself as she threw the remote aside and stomped over to the stereo, unplugging it from the wall. *Damn Gloria Estefan...for being such a good songwriter...*

Lucy slumped into the corner by the stereo, all the strenth having left her body and followed the beautiful blonde as she sped home. She wanted to jump into her Explorer and follow Renee, but she couldn't summon the strength.

*****

Renee was driving with her instincts, her sight being blurred by tears that she couldn't wipe away fast enough.

*Am I that big a fool to think she wouldn't touch him again? She must love him, I mean, they're married after all, in a Catholic ceremony.
*God, I hate this...*

She reached over and turned on the CD player and hit the random button, making the stereo cycle through the five or six CDs in the changer to find the perfect one.

"I know I should have told you
But I was so afraid you'd leave
And now there's nothing left to say.
Well, nothing you'd believe."

Renee normally didn't listen to this kind of music as industrial goth stuff was totally Steve's taste, but she found that she couldn't move to change the song.

"I never meant to hurt you with
The things I couldn't say.
I promise you tomorrow
While denying you today.

These lies have torn my world apart.

A darkness grows inside me in fading shades of grey
All the colours of the world are slowly sucked away.
I'm sinking ever deeper to a place that's cold and black
I can't believe I've lost you and you're never coming back.
These lies have torn my world apart.

Soon the night will take me and save me from my pain
Cloak me in cold darkness and help me lose your name.

These lies have torn my world apart...."

The black Saturn slowed down as it pulled into the blonde woman's driveway. She knew Steve wasn't back yet as their forest green Audi was still gone, he took it when he left that morning.

*Great. Fine by me,* thought Renee as she stepped out of the car and slowly walked towards her front door, the sadness in her heart weighing down her footsteps.

She summoned up the strength to fumble with her keys until the right one found purchase in the lock and opened the door. Once the blonde was inside, she quickly shut it behind her and slid to the floor.

*I just need to sleep on this...in the morning, with a little time passed and some rest, I'll be able to think better.
*This isn't worth losing Lucy over, but I need to know why this hit me so hard...*

Slowly, Renee stood up and walked into her bedroom and changed into her blue satin PJs. She curled up under the soft covers on the bed and closed her eyes, knowing it was early to go to bed, but not caring.

*****

Lucy stood up and started to clean up, gathering their dishes and blowing out candles. All she wanted to do was curl up in a fetal position and cry.

*First things first,* she thought to herself. She wanted to talk to Renee, but knew that the woman needed some time. *I didn't exactly prepare her for the news, what with this wonderfully romantic dinner and playing her Lakme, I'm surprised that she didn't belt me.*

She put the dishes in the sink to be washed tomorrow and, being resonably satified with the condition of the house, shut the sliding glass door and went to bed.

---

Continued HERE.

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