She sat down on my lap, arms wrapping gently around my neck as she nestled her face into the crook of my neck. Her legs wrapped around me as she pressed herself against my chest, breathing a soft breeze in my ear. "Hey," she mumbled softly. "Sup?"

It was still strange to me. Not bad. Extraordinary, almost, that she could find something like me comforting enough to hold this close, so close that I could feel her heartbeat against mine. Her voice was a song in it of itself, her eyes blindingly gorgeous, her lips...

"Nothing much." I wrapped my arms around her waist, leaning back on my bed as she clung onto me like I was life itself.

"Cool, cool." Her body relaxed against me as I ran my fingers through her hair softly. She traced the indentations of my shell almost absentmindedly. "Glad to hear it."

There was something oddly domestic about all this, her curling into me as we chit-chatted. After all that had been happening over the past few months, both of us were welcome to this kind of normalcy. It felt safe.

"Don't take this the wrong way," I smiled softly, "but you aren't usually this clingy. Is something up?"

She slid farther down my body, crossing her forearms and resting her chin on the barrier. "Missed you is all," she sighed. "Am I allowed?"

'Missed me. She missed me.' I felt my heart melt. "Encouraged, actually."

She pursed her lips, suppressing a laugh. "Did you miss me?" She slid back up, placing her hands on either side of my head as she hovered over me.

I grinned, leaning up and pressing my lips against hers. I felt her smile as she cupped my face in her hands, pulling herself closer to me. I pushed myself upright, leaning back against the wall as she straddled me properly, moving her hands to the back of my neck as she tugged gently at my lips. Her chap stick tasted of strawberries.

She pulled back, placing her hands on my thighs as she leaned back. Her face was flushed a gorgeous pink, her chest rising and falling gently. She cleared her throat, running her tongue deliciously across her lips. "I'll take that as a yes," she giggled. "Jeez, you were never this forward before."

"Wasn't I?" I fiddled with her jacket absentmindedly. "Right now, I don't remember."

She shook her head. "You wanted to be?" She placed her hands over mine. "I wouldn't have guessed."

I paused. 'She feels so real.' "Was I not passionate enough before? Be honest."

"Hm?" Her eyes widened. "Oh, shit, I didn't mean it like that." Her face flushed darker. "I just thought it was cool, you know? I didn't mean it as an insult."

I slipped my hands under her jacket. "I didn't take it as one," I sighed. "Just wonderin' is all."
She leaned forward, placing her chin back on my chest. "I think you were a pretty damn good boyfriend to me, personally." She shrugged. "I mean, I feel like I made my opinion on the matter very clear."

I smiled ruefully. "You did, huh?"

"I mean, I hope I did." She closed her eyes. "I wanted you to be happy, after all." She brought her arms up and under her head. "Obviously, I didn't do the best job in the world, but I think I did alright."

"Personally?" I twirled a lock of her hair around my finger. "I think you did an excellent job."

"Really?" She sounded almost confused by the statement. "But you're sad because of me. I didn't do my job right."

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "When did I ever make it your job to think about whether I'm happy?"

"When you asked me to be your girlfriend." She looked back up at me with her gorgeous eyes. "That's when I considered it official, anyhow."

"It was never your job." I ran my tongue along the back of my teeth. "Not your job to protect me or the others, either. What's the point in knowing how to swing a stick really hard if not to be able to protect myself?"

She laughed. "Please," she scoffed. "You need protecting more than I do."

"Do not," I grumbled.

"Do too." She reached up, gently tapping the space between my eyes. "Have you seen what's happened since I left?"

I wrapped my fingers around her wrist, pulling it to my mouth and kissing it softly. "I think we're doing pretty well on our own."

"Sure." I felt her heartbeat speed up. "You look totally fine."

"This is the exception, not the standard." I closed my eyes. "I think I deserve to indulge in you for a while. Splinter and Leo do it all the time with Karai."

"But it's not healthy."

A lump rose in my throat as I held her closer. "I know." I cleared my throat. "In my defense, it's not the same."

She placed her other hand on my face. "Liar," she cooed. "It's exactly the same." I felt her shrug. "' Course, I'm the queen of escapism, so I'm hardly one to judge."

"Not that." I kissed her hand, holding both her wrists and pulling them from my face. "I mean you."

She looked up at me, blinked. "Huh?"

"You aren't the same as the girl I was dating." I ran my thumb over the radiuses in each of her wrists. "You don't smell quite the same, or taste exactly like her, or feel quite like her."

She sighed. "Always the observant one." She pursed her lips. "Do I look the same?"

I nodded. "You look just like you did."

"I'm surprised."

I shrugged. "Your phone had a lot of photos of us. One video, too; you sound just like you did."

"Speaking of smell," she glanced at my sleeve, "are you planning on washing that thing any time soon?"

I shake my head.

"Why?"

I hesitate. "It's all I have left of you. I'm scared to."

"See, that's just blatantly not true." She did not try to get my hands off her. "You have my phone."

"You know what I mean." I break eye contact. "This is the only physical thing I have of yours."

"It's still morbid." She stuck her tongue out at me. "And I was wearing it for a long time. It certainly could use some TLC."

'I should have asked what that stood for when we were back home.' "But it smells a little like you, and I don't want to wash the smell out."

"Dude, I'm not going to haunt you across time over a stupid jacket." She rolled her eyes at my care. "It's not even a good jacket; it's from my middle school."

"It's not that I think you'll hate me for it," I repeated. "It's just that it's a little piece of you and I want that little piece of you to stay the same as it was before we left."

"Before I died," she corrected matter-of-factly. "You want it to stay the same as it did before I died."

"But you're not dead," I countered. "If you were, then why would I care so much about getting back home?"

"What," she teased, "are you saving the world not just out of the goodness of your heart?"

"No amount of goodness," I sigh, "is worth living out in space over. We just want to get back home."

"Is it not an adventure?" She rolled over, back against my chest as she looked back at me. "Hanging with one of the universe's greatest minds must be cool."

"Sure," I concede, "but I'd rather be back on Earth with you."

She whistled. "You keep talkin' like that," she warned cheekily, "and I might start getting the idea you like me or something."

"We wouldn't want that, now would we?"

She sat up slowly. "I wish we could stay like that for longer," she sighed, "but you're on deck in a couple minutes." She stretched her hands above her head. She paused. "I'm not going to encourage false hope," she started, "but, if we ever get to see one another in the proper flesh, treat me right, okay? You'll have to give me the rundown when you see me again."

I followed suit as she climbed off me, rubbing my face with my hand. "I will," I promise. "It's not going to be an if, alright?"

She paused. She looked back at me, smiled. "You know something, Donnie?" She smiled softly. "You're really fuckin awesome.

I felt my face heat up. "Thanks."

She turned to face me properly. "See you later." She waved, the scene dissolving around me.

I got to my feet, walking to the door.

"It's going to be a matter of when." I felt my hand grip around her jacket. "I promise. I'll make this right."