Taking in a long day

"Your not dreaming Christy, I'm right here and I love you with all of my heart." Oded said looking at her. He kissed her again but this time he did it more passionately. He pulled her closer to him, his hands were twined in with her shirt. He broke the kiss but he kept her close to him. Oded never wanted to lose her to anything ever again, he then began rubbing his hands up and down her back. "I will never leave you alone again Christy, I promise you this."

Oded put his head next to her breathing in her sweet scent that he knew all too well. "Remember what it was like with me Christabelle, it hasn't changed for me. It's okay to feel again, I will not hurt you I promise sweetheart. You are the only woman who will ever have my heart, my heart is whole now that you are back here with me."

Christy snuggled up against his chest as he began to run his hands up and down her back. She tilted her head up and looked at him. "Really?" She asked, "No matter what happens?" Part of her wanted to believe this, but she had been so hurt before by him and her family that she wasn't sure whether or not to believe that it was true and he wouldn't break his promise to her.

"But I don't want to feel again." she said to him. "You might not hurt me but I don't know how to feel anymore. So much has happened. Oh I love you and I know that I love you but I'm too scared of getting burned. Everything that I touch burns and goes away." She was showing just how much of a toll everything had been taking on her. She really needed someone who was truly and completely by her side but she knew she couldn't open up to trust again as easily as she had before.

Oded pulled her close to his chest as he spoke low but enough for her to hear him. "I know your trust has been betrayed before, I know that it is a fragile thing but you can trust me. I won't burn like you think I will and i will show you a million times if i have to." He kissed her head and spoke again this time his voice seemed a little more rough. "I will never leave your side even for a moment. You are the only one who truly know what my heart is like. If there ever comes a time that i were to burn, i will never go away no matter what."

Oded was prepared to take on anything that he could to keep her for himself. "I can show you how to feel again Christy, you are my whole world and I will fight for you. Let your heart guide you Christy, please my love."

"I wish I could let my heart guide me." she replied. Oh how I wish my heart still existed love she thought feeling like she was being pulled in two different directions. But after I learned that Godric was along with my family just to over protect me and I lost him...I'm half of who I was. Her heart was torn and not only needed healing but needed to be gently guided.

"I'm not the same girl you fell in love with Oded." she continued to say, "I'm not the little innocent girl you reunited with her last year of school to be taken advantage of. I've grown up. I'm practically a ruler of a country. I'll be gray headed before my time. I'll hardly ever get time for myself, much less a family. Is that really something you want to put yourself through?" She looked up at him and into his eyes, her hand moving to cup his cheek.

"I've heard of the laws they have been making here regarding marriage and child bearing. I've never been one for being forced into anything. And I want you to know everything you'd be giving up or have a chance of giving up by being with me."

Oded placed his hand on the base of her neck and on her cheek, "I know your not the same girl i fell in love with Christy. I know you have changed but I don't care, you are still the woman i love. I'll be grey haired before you, I'd put myself through anything if it meant being by your side." He kissed her lips softly.

Oded looked at her and smiled, "I know what I'm giving up and I don't care. All I care about is being with you for the rest of my life. You are the best thing in my life right now and I won't give that up."

She laughed a little, "I'm pretty sure I'll be grey haired before you will." she replied, "I'm the one helping to run a country after all." She took in a deep breath and pulled out of his embrace turning to walk towards the lake a ways. Did he really know what he would be giving up? Was he really ready to take that step?

"Thats the thing." she continued to say, "Are you really sure you want to give up all of this to be with me. You say you don't care right now so long as you're with me, but what happens in several years when you're ready to be a father and I don't want to be a mother yet?" she asked turning to look at him. "You're older than I am by a few years. You'll want children before I do, I'm sure of that."

Oded smiled, "Yes but technically I'll be grey first since i'm older than you are. You will be a great ruler sweetheart," He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I really am sure that I am willing to give up everything to be with you. I'll be ready to have children when you are. First though you have to love monkeys, that's my only stipulation. Only because I have a one year old Capuchin monkey named Jazzy. I rescued her when she was still a baby since someone didn't know how to take care of her." He waited for her to respond to this seeing as he probably sounded weird about this.

Oded looked at her seeing nothing but how much he loved her. He knew that if she didn't want kids at all he could live with that. His parents had many grand children as it was and they still had Joey for keeping the family name going.

"Ruler?" she asked looking at him, "You make it sound like a dictatorship." She stared at him, looking really hard, trying to figure out if he meant every word he was saying. "I like monkeys." she added before going back to the more serious subject, "But like I said, you're 32 and I'm 24. I may never be ready to be a mother, much less look at how I was raised."

She shuddered thinking about how over-sheltered she had been raised. Could she really bring a child into this world without knowing any other way to raise them but that? Then again, she wondered, why were they even talking about having children. They had just reunited. "Do I get to see this monkey you rescued?" she asked curiously.

Oded sighed and said, "I wasn't trying to say that it that way sweetheart. I know it's not a dictatorship, I didn't know the correct way to phrase it. I'm glad you do like monkeys, if we never have kids Christy I'll be fine." He said kissing her forehead and taking her hand intertwining his fingers with her.

"Yes of course you can see her, she's a tiny thing just to let you know." Oded said leading her towards the entrance to the park, still keeping his hand in hers he led her a little ways past. He stopped at a cafe that looked like it was new and held open the door for her.

Christy followed him towards the entrance of the park. Strangely enough, she hadn't been paying attention when she walked into it to notice the little café at the entrance. She smiled a little hoping that everything would work out. She had hopes it would.

As he held the door open for her to enter the little café she turned to look at him. "But I'm not hungry." She said lying a little bit. Truth was she hadn't eaten since the night before because she was in such a hurry to get out of her shoebox of an apartment. That and she still had no clue how to cook. She had been surviving on the one thing she could figure out and that was the toaster. "I don't remember seeing this place when I entered the park."

She laughed a little remembering she had forgotten something back at the pond. "Also you should know I'm still bare footed."