"Talon!"

The noise shattered through the darkness like a screeching cry from an abandoned baby. Talon's eyes shot open as he lay on the bed, startled by the sudden scream in his ears. He looked around the room, trying to decipher what had happened. His head shot off the pillow. He rubbed his eyes and waited for them to adjust to the lack of light of the very early morning. Vanessa kicked in the bed next to him. Talon flipped over and placed his hand on her shoulder. He watched her face scrunch up in horror, twisting at whatever was going on behind her closed eyelids.

"Hey, hey, I'm right here." He whispered. He shook her slightly, hoping some movement would jostle her awake.

"Where! Where are you?" She shouted. Talon could feel the fear coursing through her body. Goosebumps lined her skin as her body shook. Talon looked around the room and tried to decide what he was supposed to do. He could get out of bed and run over to the light, turn it on and hope it would be enough to wake Vanessa up naturally. But he didn't want to leave her confused about what was going on, and possibly cause a mental break for her.

Vanessa kicked in her sleep again and continued groaning. It seemed like she was shouting for something, but Talon couldn't figure out what.

"Vanessa!" He said, harsher than he had meant to. "Wake up." He put force on her shoulder and shook her harder this time, hoping it would be enough to pull her out of her nightmare.

"What the hell?" Vanessa griped as she flipped over in bed and gave Talon a death glare. The sudden movement startled Talon, so he launched back to the other side of the mattress, pressing his back against the wall. His hands flew up in the air in a surrender position.

"Sorry, I was just trying to wake you up." He stuttered, hoping she had already figured out what was going on. Talon made a mental note to figure out a better way to wake her up when she was dreaming.

"Wait, so I was sleeping?" Vanessa asked. The question was strange to Talon. He had assumed she knew she had fallen asleep. Last night Vanessa was exhausted, so they opted to relax in bed instead of watching tv on the couch. Vanessa was out before Talon could even finish a page in his book. Talon turned to look at the discarded book that had fallen to his side and then shoved against the wall, crinkling the pages when he drifted to sleep last night.

"Yeah, you slept pretty much all night."

Talon could see Vanessa thinking over his words. She chewed on them like she was trying to decipher what he had said. Deep down, he was proud of her for sleeping, but that didn't make what he had planned for today any easier.

"When did I fall asleep?" She asked, bending over the sheets to reach her phone on the side table. "We should also move this bed away from the wall and possibly move to the master now that we have the house to ourselves." She mumbled under her breath.

"Yeah, I think we can do some rearranging, but not today." Talon climbed to the end of the bed to not disturb her. Once he got to the edge, he jumped off and started rifling through his dresser to get some clothes for the day. Vanessa checked the notifications on her screen and was so preoccupied by getting caught up on everything she had missed, that she didn't even notice Talon had left the room and came back with a suitcase. He dropped the small blue luggage on the bed and started grabbing a few of his items. He carefully stacked them in the corner, making sure all of his stuff was tucked into one spot.

"You need to get some clothes and put on something comfortable." Talon smiled, but it never reached his eyes.

"Why?" Vanessa asked, looking at Talon as if he was doing something horrible.

"Because I planned a surprise vacation." Talon chose his words carefully. He didn't want to give up too much information because he knew Vanessa wouldn't want to come if he had.

"To where?"

"Do you know what the word 'surprise' means?" He teased as he grabbed a few more shirts and placed them in the suitcase. Vanessa stretched her arms over her head, letting out a whimper of pleasure as she released her muscles.

"I haven't slept that good in ages, so I guess I'll go along with your shenanigans. What kind of clothes should I pack?" Talon bit his lip. He was a little unsure how to answer the question. It didn't matter what clothes she packed because she probably wouldn't wear any of them anyway.

"Just some comfortable ones." He managed and left the room to gather some things from the bathroom. Talon grabbed as few things as possible and when he returned to the bedroom, he saw Vanessa standing in front of the suitcase with a few of her own shirts, neatly folding them before she placed them into the luggage.

The long shirt she wore tickled the back of her thighs and when she bent over it rode up, showing that she was wearing a cheeky thong underneath. Talon couldn't help but stare as he thought about holding her over the edge of the bed and taking her completely. Talons' breath became ragged, and he closed the distance between Vanessa and himself. He wrapped his arms around her from behind as he kissed the back of her neck. Vanessa sank into his body, pushing her hips back into him, and he knew they both could feel the pressure growing in his underwear.

Vanessa tossed her head back, relaxing it on his shoulder as Talon continued to leave a trail of kisses along her neck. He nibbled the bottom of her ear as he placed his hands on the front of her thighs, pushing her even tighter into him.

"Are you going to do something... or just stand there?" Vanessa whispered through a raspy breath.

Talon took that as full approval as he grabbed her hips and whipped her around. He pressed his lips against hers and the couple crashed onto the bed in a fit of passionate kisses. Talon felt he couldn't hold himself back anymore, so he allowed his body to release, tugging at her shirt as he pulled it over her head, exposing her bare breasts. Vanessa arched her back and let out another whimper.

"What are you waiting for?" She said in her lustful voice. 

"I didn't know this place opened this early." Vanessa looked around the bar they had gone on their first date. The booths looked messier in the light of the early afternoon. The floor was scratched from what appeared to be too many bar fights, and everything just looked generally more run down than before.

"They open the kitchen this early, but the bar doesn't open until three." Talon said, looking through the lunch menu in front of him.

"Did you look that up?" Vanessa asked, holding the laminated paper in front of her.

"Yeah, I wanted to make this trip special, so I decided to do a few of your favorite things." Talon swallowed the lump that was forming in the back of his throat. He wanted today to go smoothly and what he was really doing was buttering her up before he had to drop the bomb on her.

"Are you going to propose?" Vanessa peered at him over the menu. Talon felt exposed. He wasn't, but he had no clue how to respond to that question without adding some tension to the conversation. If he said yes, and then didn't, she would be upset and know that he lied to her, but if he said no and didn't, she might be upset that he didn't propose. Would Vanessa even be ready for something like that?

Talon shook his head, then said, "You will have to wait and see."

"Isn't that why you are doing all these special things for me this morning? Like in bed, and then now we are getting my favorite food? You packed a surprise vacation for me? All you need now is a hidden camera man and to somehow tell me to go and get my nails done before the big moment." Vanessa took a sip of the water sitting in front of her.

"Maybe I just want to spoil you? Maybe you should go and get your nails done?" Talon paused for a moment and wanted to mentally slap himself. Why would he say something like that? He was getting her hopes up for something that wasn't going to happen. But at least Talon knew a proposal wouldn't scare her away. That made him feel slightly better. Hopefully, his plan didn't screw that up for him.

"But we won't have time for you to go get your nails done. We have to leave after lunch." Talon quickly added to the conversation, hoping she wouldn't push it any further.

"Fine, but can you at least give me a hint at where we are going?" Vanessa whined, leaning across the table. Talon shook his head, holding strong on his words from earlier that he wasn't going to tell her a thing. He knew the second he opened his mouth and said something, he was going to ruin everything.

"No can do." Talon mumbled. He was thankful when the waitress interrupted them to take their orders.

"It feels so weird being here this early." Vanessa mentioned again, looking around the restaurant at everyone sitting around us.

"At least there's people here. Wouldn't it be worse if we were the only ones in here this early?"

"That's because the food is actually good."

Talon and Vanessa kept chatting while they waited for the food, laughing about different things they saw around them either on the street or inside the building. Talon watched the pedestrians walking, eager to leave the house without a coat in the random heat wave they were having. You wouldn't have known about the heatwave if you looked at how Vanessa was dressed.

When Talon told her to pick a comfortable outfit, she grabbed some gray joggers and a pullover to match with some college logo on the front of it. Talon wasn't sure where she'd gotten it, since he knew she hadn't gone to college, and she started her law firm job on an internship.

"Where did you get that sweater?" Talon asked, watching as her face twisted from smiling to curiosity.

"What brought that up?"

"I just couldn't stop looking at you, and I was curious. I want to know more about you. I want to know everything. You are the most beautiful girl in the world." 

Talon's hands were shaking as he unlocked the car door, allowing Vanessa to get in.

"I'll be there in a second. I have to get something out of the bag." Talon waved to her as he stepped to the back of the car. His fingers were shaking as the trunk door opened and he pulled the bag closer to him. He peeked around the lid to make sure Vanessa wasn't watching.

Talon dug through the bag searching for the blindfold he had snuck in there earlier this morning. He grabbed his clothes and pulled them out of the suitcase and tucked them to the side then made a mental note to come and grab them once he got home. He closed the trunk of the car and walked to the passenger door. Talon leaned against the window, looking inside.

"Put this on." He smiled, handing the blindfold to Vanessa. She looked at him cautiously then grabbed the material from him.

"Okay." she muttered, her eyes lighting up with excitement over the surprise, leaving Talon with an even worse crushing feeling than he had before.

Maybe this wasn't the right way to go about this?