Okay, so this one shot is most likely inconsistent LOL. About last Tuesday or Wednesday I finally got an idea for, well, anything writing related for the first time in 2-3 weeks. And I basically jumped right into the entire thing without any sort of plan what-so-ever, which not how I usually write my one shots. I deeply apologize if any of my notes are still present in here that I missed on the document. This is also unedited, if I have the energy after writing the next, short part to this, I will come back and edit it. I also deeply apologize if any of the characters seem ooc. One thing that I actually have been wanting to explore writing when writing anything tpn related, is unique, rare, or unlikely dynamics/relationships. For this one, I chose Ray and Gilda, and Emma and Nat, I'm not quite sure if I'm satisfied with the way Ray and Gilda's scene came out, but I really do like the way Nat and Emma's scene came out. The title is actually inspired by a song that majorly influenced this one shot from a movie called Enchanted. Okay, enough of my rambling LOL. I hope whoever reads this one shot enjoys!

She's late, Ray thinks.

She's not usually late, well, okay, that's a bit of a lie. But Emma's not usually this late when she and Ray make plans to research for the Seven Walls.

Ray looks at the clock again, and clicks his tongue in annoyance. He turns back to his book, and flips to the next page.

Just then the door bursts open, and Ray hears a girl calling his name. He looks up from his book and sees Emma closing the doors to the Achieve room.

"I'm sorry I'm late," She says, sounding out of breath, "I was doing something and I had lost track of time!"

There's a brief silence, excluding Emma's panting. Ray gives her a look. "Did you run from the other side of the shelter or something?" He asks. Emma turns to him while chuckling awkwardly. "No?" She says.

Ray frowns, "You're not supposed to answer a question with another question."

"You can if you're trying to throw someone off."

"Are you saying you're trying to throw me off?"

Emma grins, "Maybe. Who knows?"

Ray smirks at that. It's at that moment when he notices that Emma's arms are hidden behind her back. He can tell that she's hiding something from him, and when his gaze lands on her face, Ray sees that Emma has this look, and he knows in that second that Emma wants to bring his attention to something, particularly the thing she's hiding that most likely caused her tardiness.

Ray sighs, but he doesn't close his book.

"What is it Emma?" He asks

Emma smiles from ear to ear, before bringing her arms to the front. A book is in her hands, Ray squints to read the cover, but Emma begins to walk towards him before she slides the book onto the table. It bumps against the other book that Ray had been reading.

Ray leans over and looks at the cover, it's a hardback book made of white leather.

He doesn't even have to read the title to know that the book is about different forms of dance and its history.

Ray gives Emma a deadpan expression, "Emma—"

Emma interrupts Ray, waving her hands before speaking, "Before you say anything about how this book has nothing to do with our research—"

"Because it really doesn't," He adds.

"—Let me just say that it's not meant to be connected to our research."

"Why is this even here?" Ray asked, mostly to himself, ignoring Emma's statement. "Why would Miner—I mean, James Ratri, leave us something so trivial to our main objective?"

A small smile grows on Emma's lips, her arms behind her back once again, she shrugs. "There's plenty of books like that here in the shelter. After all, Mr. Ratri did build this shelter for children."

Ray doesn't look at Emma, he knows that she knew what he meant. It was a stupid reason to be embarrassed, but when she worded her sentence like that, she made him sound stupid.

"You know what I mean." Ray said, a glare pointed in Emma's direction. She only tossed her head back and laughed. A sound that never failed to make Ray smile or to lift his spirits up even just the tiniest bit.

"Let's learn how to dance." Emma says suddenly.

"You know how to dance already."

"No. Maybe. Okay, yes. But I mean how to properly dance."

What?

Was there even a way to properly dance?

Was that even a thing?

"Why?" Ray asks.

Emma shrugs, "Because it would be fun."

"Everything that isn't work would be fun for you," Ray said, not realizing how heavy that comment was, and that it secretly applied to him, too, until it was too late. Because in the end both he and Emma were still kids, they didn't choose to spend their adolescent years—or in Ray's case, his entire childhood—fighting for their freedom.

Then again, everyone spends their life constantly fighting for something. It just so happened that the battle that picked this group of children, was harder than others. In more ways than one.

Emma gave Ray a knowing smile, and he felt the tip of his ears warm up. "Yes," She said, "Which is exactly why we should give it a chance."

She pulls out the chair next to Ray, and sits next to him. Her left arm resting on the table with her body turned to him, her grin ever so present.

"Let's take a break together, Ray."

"Why?" Ray asked. Emma's face fell slightly, but not her smile. (If anything, it seemed to grow.)

"Because it would be—"

"No, no, no," Ray wanted to bang his head against the table for how much he just repeated himself. "I know that. I meant, why me?"

"Why not you?" Emma replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It was such a simple reply, and yet there were no words in any dictionary that could describe the impact it had on Ray.

Ray didn't say anything, just looked away from her and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

Emma let out an exasperated sigh, Ray turned back to face her. She looked slightly irritated now.

"Dance with me, Ray."

Ray wrinkled his nose at that. "No." He simply said.

"Why not?" Emma asked, leaning in.

"Because we have to work."

"Yeah, I know." Emma leaned back into her chair, her gaze now on the white book, along with a wistful smile on her lips. "But that's all we've been doing for two weeks."

Ray turned to the younger girl, a feeling of worry gently tugging at his heart from her statement. Because he knew that Emma would never let herself take a break, not even the tiniest bit of rest, from something like this. Because that was just her.

"Is there something on your mind?" Ray asked.

"Yes."

"Do you want to share it?"

Emma stared up at the ceiling, looking as if she was considering something. Her smile fell as she suddenly looked somewhat disheartened. Emma shook her head.

"No," She said with a sigh, "I don't want to share it."

"Yet?"

Emma turned to face Ray with a grin, "Yet." She replied. And Ray could practically hear her thinking, 'How is it that you can always read me so well?'

A few seconds pass without incident until Emma suddenly rests her head on his shoulder, causing Ray to jump ever so slightly. He looks at her with an incredulous look, and sees that her eyes are closed, a tired smile on her lips.

"If you're not going to learn dance with me, at least read the book to me." She said.

Ray didn't argue, he didn't try to put up a fight. Rather, he let out an irritated sigh (albeit it was pretty half-hearted.) and made sure to save his place in his book before closing it. He reached over for the white leathered book, and opened it to the first page before reading it out-loud.

Ray woke up in the Archives room, his head resting against Emma's. The book now sat on the table in front of them, and a blanket covering both he and Emma.

He knew that this was most likely Gilda's doing, and if so, that both he and Emma were going to get a stern talking to about not sleeping in the Archives room, later.

But for now, he didn't care about that. Rather, he focused on the fact as to how he was going to get up without waking Emma. Whilst absent-mindedly thinking about how much he liked being this close to her.

---

Apparently, Ray had forgotten that he was on laundry duty with Gilda. Actually, scratch that, he forgot that he and Gilda were basically partnered together for chores this entire week.

It was so stupid; it wasn't like him to forget things. But maybe at the time chores were being assigned to the children, he just didn't really care.

Gilda walked into the bathroom—they usually did laundry in the bathroom as it was the most accessible place for water—with a frown, a basket that was full of either white shirts or black pants or skirts, in her hands. Ray saw her out of the corner in his eye but chose to ignore the girl.

Gilda walked over to Ray, and sat her basket down right next to his, before sitting on her knees, and grabbing a random shirt from her basket, to begin her chore. But she didn't say a word. In fact, she did not say anything for quite some time. Which was strange to Ray, as he was sure she would be at least somewhat bitter still. The room was almost terrifyingly silent.

"So... you're not mad?" Ray muttered as Gilda held up one of the shirts to the light, probably trying to see if there was still a stain or not.

Gilda then threw her arms down, causing a bit of the water to splash around the tub.

"Gilda!" Ray shouted as some of the water spilled out. He should have known better than to think Gilda was not mad, and to open his big mouth. She turned to him, frowning.

"Ray, you and Emma know that I don't like it when you both sleep in the Archive room." Gilda replied bitterly.

"So, you are mad.

Gilda only replied by splashing a bit of water at him. Sure, it was childish, but Gilda was still a child.

"Hey!" Ray yelled while futilely trying to block the water, which only resulted in getting his sleeve wet. He couldn't help but to glare at the girl, "I know that! We know that! Gilda, it wasn't like we purposely fell asleep there. And be more careful with the water!"

Gilda's scowl softened, and so did her voice, "I know that. And I do know that that wasn't your intention, or Emma's. But I worry. And I want both of you to take care of yourselves. Even if the situation isn't exactly ideal."

Gilda turned back to the tub, grabbing a random shirt and began to wash it. But Ray didn't. Despite not showing it, he felt guilty. He knew Gilda worried, sometimes she worried a bit too much. But it meant that she cared, deeply. And Ray would honestly take a worried-angry Gilda over a... Well, never mind.

"We were researching for the Seven Walls; you know this Gilda." Ray muttered after minutes of silence.

"Really?" She says, sounding skeptical. Ray faces her and gives her a look.

"Yeah, really." He says as he gets back to work.

"Oh," Gilda nods her head, "So that's why there was a book in your hands about the history of dancing."

Ray froze. Well there goes doing his work.

There was something about the way Gilda worded her sentence that made Ray panic. Like as if he just got caught doing something illegal.

"What book?" Ray says, like an idiot. Gilda turns to him with a blank face.

"Ray."

Ray flinches at Gilda's tone. There was nothing like suffering the wrath of Gilda's fury when provoked. She continued.

"Ray, unless you and Emma need to perform some sort of ritual dance in order to enter the Seven Walls, I kind of doubt that you two were researching."

"What if we were researching for the Seven Walls and discovered that is exactly what we need to do. And that's why I had that book?" God, Ray really wanted to get the crap beaten out of him today, didn't he?

"I—"

Gilda was caught off guard, her face now in disbelief. She looked as if she was questioning a few life choices. Before leaning in towards Ray just a bit.

"Is it?" She asked.

Ray wanted to say yes, he really wanted to say yes. But he didn't like lying, especially to Gilda and or Don. And either way, his lack of an answer was more than enough for Gilda. She leaned away; her eyebrow raised with that look. Ray once again panicked for some reason.

"In my defense—!"

"I knew it!" Gilda shouted before throwing the shirt down but not releasing her grip on it.

"—Emma was late! And when she finally got there, she had that book, and went on about some nonsense about dancing."

Gilda looked like she was still doubting him just a bit. Before sighing, a small smile on her lips, as she turned back to the water. "Yeah... That does sound like something she would do."

There was no longer any anger in her voice, and she no longer looked tense. Which made Ray relax just a bit. And for a while, they just sat there in silence, no washing or anything. Just sitting.

Gilda picked up the shirt now floating in the water, and ran her fingers over one of the buttons.

"Chris is about to outgrow his shirt." She said quietly.

Ray looked at Gilda, and chuckled softly. "Yeah..."

"Sometimes," Gilda started, "When we come back, I can't help but to expect everyone to still look the same."

"Yeah, me too."

There was silence once again, and Gilda turned to face Ray.

"I'm sorry I splashed water at you. And, got your clothes wet." She said sincerely with a small smile. Ray returned it.

"I'm sorry me and Emma make you worry so much. And that we fell asleep in the Archive room."

Gilda shrugged, "It's fine. Just, don't do it again, okay?" She said sternly. Ray grinned in reply, "I Promise." He said.

They both went back to work. And everything was finally going back the way it was. No anger, or worrying, or anything.

"Next time," Gilda mutters, "When you and Emma want to use the Archive room for an "appointment", just tell me."

Ray felt his eyes widen as his face suddenly became hotter than the sun. But he didn't want to panic in front of Gilda any more. So, he tried to play her comment off.

He did a terrible job at doing so.

"That's not... We weren't... We don't... We were researching. You know that. Gilda, we just talked about this. Emma's just—"

"I didn't say anything, I'm just washing clothes." Gilda said, refusing to look at him.

Ray glared at her, and retaliated by throwing the shirt he was washing at Gilda, who yelped in surprise.

"Like you and Don are any better," he muttered, "At least me and Emma... Kind of know what we're doing."

Gilda's face turned red, her hair and clothes now soaking wet.

---

Ray and Emma were about an hour into their research, when Emma suddenly closed her book and sighed.

Ray knew she was trying to get his attention, but he did look at her. He instead, continued to read.

Emma sighed again; this time louder. Ray couldn't help but to curse under his breath. He looked up from his book and at Emma.

"What is it, Emma?" He said, getting a sense of DeJa'Vu.

Emma's eyes lit up, pleased that she was able to successfully grab his attention.

"We've been doing nothing but reading for an entire hour, why don't we—"

"No." Ray cut her off, knowing exactly where this was going.

Emma pouted, "But you didn't even let me finish."

"Doesn't matter. You were going to say that we should dance, right." Ray said, motioning at the white book that was still on the table. Emma flinched; she was looking at Ray like he was crazy. Ray only clicked his tongue.

"Listen Emma," He said, "I know that you're probably tired of reading, I am too, but we need to focus on this for now."

"I know that," Emma replied, "But I really do think that we should take a break."

Ray only sighed at her answer. There was a brief moment of silence.

"Tell you what!" Emma said suddenly, getting out of her chair and standing in the middle of the room. Ray turned to face her. "Let's make a deal!"

Ray tilted his head, confusion on his face, "A deal?"

Emma shook her head, "Yeah! A compromise."

Ray thought for a moment, then said, "Okay, what's your offer?"

Emma grinned.

"We come in here to research for the Seven Walls," She started, "Then we take a one-hour break of dance lessons, after that we continue with our research. Deal?"

Ray considered this, usually he and Emma stayed in the Archive room for about an hour or three. And it would probably help if they had a break in between reading, even if it was just dancing.

Ray sighed fondly, he could never win against her, could he?

"Fine." Ray says standing up. Emma beams.

Ray finds himself standing face-to-face with her. He sees the way how her eyes are now lit up from him agreeing, her cheeks somewhat lifted up from just how wide her smile is. And Ray finds himself taken aback by just how happy she looked.

"You look really pretty today," Ray blurts out without any second thought.

Emma stares at him, stunned, before she nervously looks away, grinning while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, obviously caught off guard by Ray's sudden compliment.

Ray wants to hide himself away from the entire world. (In other words, Emma—) Because that's not what he meant to say out loud.

"Thanks..." She mutters, still avoiding eye-contact, "You look pretty also."

The sentence fully processes through Emma's mind too late, and her eyes shoot open as she seemingly begins to sweat bullets. Ray tries to hold in his laughter, but fails as he slaps a hand on his mouth, the other holding his stomach as he bends over laughing.

A blush appears on Emma's cheeks, "Stop that!" She shouts, "I panicked!"

Ray looks up at the girl, his arms wrapped around his stomach. "Thanks, I'm flattered." He joked between laughs.

"I—You jerk! You know I'm not good with this type of stuff!"

He does know that, which is exactly why he likes to make fun of her like this. Not only because he likes seeing, and making her blush, but also because he knows that she likes it also. As vexed as she acts about it, he knew that he never truly angered her.

Ray always had a soft spot for Emma, now more than ever. And he couldn't help but to admire her amount of determination when it came to a goal.

Ray stops laughing, his arms drop to his sides. And stares at Emma, while so many powerful emotions make their way through his body. Emma sees this, and her pout drops, her face matching his own. And Ray knows in that moment that she's feeling the exact same thing he's feeling.

"Emma, I—"

"I know. Me too..."

There's a moment of silence, but it's short-lived before Emma begins to speak again.

"But you really do look good today... You look good every-day. And you really are pretty."

Ray feels his face become warmer, he awkwardly chuckles, "I don't really know how to react to being called pretty."

"But you are! Uh—well, at least that's the only way I know how to word it—"

"Thanks." He says, cutting her off.

Emma looks up at Ray, astonished. Before she smiles, Ray puts his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"So," He starts, "How about we begin those dance lessons."

Emma smiles from ear-to-ear. She walks over to the table and places the book down before flipping to a certain page. Within seconds, she finishes her reading and walks—more like runs—back over to Ray.

"Okay, so first,"

Wordlessly, Emma reaches out and clasps Ray's left hand with her right one, before slightly extending both of them to her right side.

His hand is warm, which sends a fluttery feeling through her chest.

"You do this." Emma says, "Then," She reaches and clasps her hand around his right wrist. "You put this," She places his hand slightly underneath her arm, "Here." She finishes while placing her hand on his shoulder.

"And then you just follow the music!" Emma says with a proud smile.

"You mean the music that's not playing?" Ray says.

It takes Emma a second to realize that there is indeed no music playing. "Oh!" She says, and untangles herself out of his grip to look through the few disc's in the room. Ray's arms awkwardly hang by his sides, he suddenly doesn't know what to do with them.

Thankfully, it isn't long before Emma seems to find the right disc, and places it on the record player. By the time she's standing in front of Ray again, soft piano notes followed by a gentle melody, begin to fill the room.

It's not perfect. Their steps are sloppy, and one of them accidentally steps on the others foot on multiple occasions. But it was the first time either of them has ever tried to slow dance, so perfection wasn't really what they were aiming for.

Ray didn't want to let her go, but one glance at the clock told him that their break was over. So, reluctantly, he pulled away, and told her it was time to get back to work. If Emma was disappointed, she didn't show it.

They read in silence for a few hours, before calling it a day and heading to bed.

---

"Where were you and Ray last night?"

It's a question that throws Emma off. She, Nat, Anna, and Oliver were assigned together with hunting for dinner. Anna had turned ten some time ago, and Yuugo and Lucas both agreed that, if she wanted to, she could start being assigned to hunt with others. Anna agreed, saying she wanted to help out more. (It was a bit sad in a way, it reminded Emma that while she was away, the other kids were still growing, and having birthdays that she was missing.)

The only problem with that, was Nat, demanding that he join her for her first hunting mission. He didn't trust her going alone—even though she really, wasn't considering the fact that both Emma and Oliver would be going with Anna.

In Nat's defense, it didn't look like he thought Anna couldn't take care of herself. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He knew she could take care of herself, and that she would be joined by two "experts". But the look in his eye was one all-to-familiar for Emma, because it was the same way Ray would look at Emma before she would leave to hunt. It was a look of worry. Of an almost endless list of what-ifs.

Emma was able to convince Yuugo and Lucas to let Nat join the short expedition, if Emma kept an eye on him at all times.

It wasn't all that hard, Nat didn't get in the way, and even listened intently when Emma or Oliver were teaching Anna something. And even though he looked like he wasn't exactly in favor of the idea of Anna and Oliver separating from Emma and Nat for a bit, Nat didn't argue.

Which is why, when Emma had aimed perfectly at a bird that was perched on a tree branch, a split second before releasing her arrow, Nat had suddenly asked her that question, causing her to lose her focus last minute, and not only completely miss the bird, but also ended up alerting the entire flock as her arrow hit a random tree.

Emma watched with a look of defeat as an entire flock of birds flew away.

Nat cringed, "Sorry." He said with sincerity.

Emma sighed, but turned to the boy with a small smile and assured him that it was alright. She got off her knees and began to walk in the direction to where the tree that was now holding her arrow hostage was at, Nat following.

"Uh, Emma?" Nat asked.

"Yes, Nat?" Emma answered, pausing for a moment to check her surroundings before continuing.

"You didn't answer my question."

Emma visibly flinched, before chuckling awkwardly, but she didn't face him, "What do you mean? We stayed in the Archive room for a bit, then went to bed. Come on Nat, you know me and Ray always announce when we plan to research. At least to Gilda, that is."

"Yeah, but you both always show up at least an hour or two after supper. And I know that you both didn't fall asleep there again because Ray was in the room this morning."

Ray, Don, Nat, and Theo shared one of the bedrooms together, since at night, most of the younger children slept in the dining room.

"We just, lost track of time, that's all." Emma answered, because in a way they really did. "When did you get so noisy anyway?" Emma joked.

Nat smirked, his face swelling up in pride, "Well—"

"Don't answer that." Emma said, chuckling. Nat looked disappointed, but considering the fact that his smile didn't falter, Emma guessed that he wasn't really all that bummed out.

Neither said anything for the rest of the walk. When they arrived at the tree that held Emma's arrow, Emma was thankful that it landed somewhat near the ground, saving the time she would have to spend climbing it in order to get her arrow. She walked over to the tree and plucked it out of the bark.

"Are you and Ray a couple?" Nat asked suddenly.

Emma froze, but she wasn't panicking. More like, caught off guard once again. She turned to face Nat, who was wearing an expression that she couldn't read. The arrow still in her hand.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Nat looked away and kicked at the dirt.

"I mean, are you two, like, together?"

"Why do you want to know?" Emma asked, placing her arrow back into her backpack. Making sure her tone didn't sound defensive.

"Because, I'm curious?"

"Well, yeah, but you're also asking for a different reason."

Nat didn't look at her. Rather, he just stared at the very interesting patch of dirt for some time as Emma packed up. She stood up from the ground and walked towards the boy, patting his shoulder as she passed by him to let him know that they were leaving.

"How do you tell a girl you like them?"

Emma stopped and faced Nat, she looked dumbfounded, "Nat, I think you're asking the wrong person that." She said before facing forward and began walking again.

"I know that!" Nat said, rushing over towards Emma before slowing his pace once he was right behind her again. "But Ray isn't here, and this has been on my mind for a while."

Emma twirled to face Nat, her hands on the straps of her backpack as she walked backwards. "Ask Oliver?"

Nat made a face, his nose scrunching just a bit. "I'm not really that close to him."

"Don?"

"Don... is Don. And besides, he doesn't really even know what to do with Gilda."

"In other words, you've already asked him?"

Nat sighed defeatedly, "Yeah..."

Emma thought for a minute, still walking backwards, before coming to a conclusion.

"The only thing I can think of is to just simply tell Anna how you feel. It wouldn't hurt, and I'm sure she would try to be as understanding as possible."

Nat looked surprised, "How did you know I was talking about Anna?" He asked, "I haven't even said her name once during this entire conversation!"

Emma's lips tugged to a smile, a knowing look on her face. "Nat, it would take a fool for someone to think that you don't have a crush on Anna."

"Are you calling her a fool?"

"No, because she already knows.

"She wHAT—?"

Emma threw her head back and laughed, but Nat stared at her horrified. "How do you know that?!" He demanded. "What makes you so sure?!"

Emma stopped laughing and looked at the boy again, a grin on her lips, "I see it in the way she looks at you. She looks at you the same way I used to look at Ray."

Nat looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he probably didn't. But his disbelief soon turned into confusion.

"Wait so, you and Ray are a couple, or no?" Nat asked, bewildered.

Emma faced forward again; truthfully, she didn't really know how to answer his question. Her grip on the backpack straps tightened.

"What do you think?"

---

They were leaving tomorrow.

While Emma was out hunting in the morning, Ray, Violet, and Don went to the library to do some research. And it was then when they found the last piece of research, they needed in order to search the West. When Emma and her group returned from hunting, Ray was the first one to inform her this. And she bolted over to the Archive room for a meeting.

In the end, there were seven possible locations for the golden water, and three places for the temple, all located in towns inhabited by demons. Everyone decided that it would be best if Emma and her group were to spend the next day packing up and preparing for the trip. Then they would leave the next morning.

Ray was okay with this; as they were running out of time and had to hurry and make the Promise. If anything, the only thing that Ray was going to miss was the time he and Emma would spend together alone.

With nothing else left to research, Ray thought that there was no more reason for he and Emma to go to the Archive room anymore.

At least that's what he thought while he and Oliver were on their way to harvest some of the plants from the garden for supper tonight. They weren't really talking about anything important, but Ray paid attention nonetheless.

But his attention somewhat lagged when Emma—who was chasing some of the younger kids, probably playing some game, passed by them.

No one else would have seen it, but in the split second that Ray and Emma passed by each other, she slipped a small piece of paper into Ray's hand.

He didn't get to see it until a while later, but it was exactly what Ray thought it'd be. It was a short note written on a scrap piece of paper that Emma had obviously torn off from a page, written in her handwriting.

Ray, Archive room after supper.

Ray knew exactly what this was about. And after supper, he did exactly what Emma asked for.

---

Ray made sure he didn't make a lot of noise when entering the Archive room.

Not that he needed the precaution. Everyone was still awake, settling down at best. So there really wasn't any need to be sneaking around. But he kind of did so anyway.

Emma turned her head towards the sound of the door, she was standing in front of the record player and holding a disc. When their eyes met, she smiled. There was a look similar to surprise and gratitude in her eyes, as if thinking, 'You actually showed up!'.

Ray gave her a look, and when her smile softened, he knew that she was able to hear him say, 'As if I wouldn't want to come.'

"Sorry we only got to have two lessons." Ray said suddenly. But Emma only shook her head, her smile never faltering, "No, it's fine," She said, "I really only wanted to dance with you like that at least once. So, I'm satisfied."

Ray laughed lightly, Emma turned back around, "Now, give me a minute, I'm choosing a song." She said as she flipped through the discs before choosing one, and placing it on the record player. A gentle, and soft melody began to play.

Ray walks to the center of the room, Emma meeting him halfway. He notices that she's playing with the hem of her shirt, and it's then when he also notices that she's wearing a skirt.

He knows that it's one of Gillian's pairs, she's the only one who's skirts don't reach her ankles. But it was a bit big on Emma, so it ended a bit below her knees.

He hasn't seen Emma in a skirt since Gracefield.

Emma follows his gaze, which causes Ray to snap his head in a different direction. He felt like he had just committed a taboo. He could feel the tip of his ears becoming hot.

He sees Emma shuffle her feet before hearing her chuckling in a nervous tone. Ray hesitantly brings himself to look at her. Her cheeks tinted light pink.

"Is it weird?" She asks, scratching her cheek, "It's been so long that I'm not used to wearing anything that isn't pants anymore."

Ray clears his throat, "No, it looks... Fine."

They don't say anything for a while, the only sound filling the room is the song Emma had put on.

Suddenly, Emma holds her hand out, her smile bright and loving.

"Let's dance, Ray." She says.

Ray is taken aback at first, before he chuckles. He didn't know what it was, but something about the situation was just a bit funny to him.

"Okay." He replies, threading their fingers together. And placing his hand under her arm and around her back, while she places hers on his shoulder.

Much like last night, they're very sloppy with their movements at first. But for some reason now, they can't help but to laugh. They didn't exactly know what they were doing, but they were having fun. And in that moment, that's all that really mattered to the both of them.

Soon after, the music stopped, their laughter now nothing more than a memory. But Ray and Emma continued swaying together. Ray wasn't even aware that the song had finished, as he was staring at Emma.

Her eyes were closed, there was a soft smile on her lips as she hummed the same song that had ended seconds ago. Without any indication, Emma's left arm snaked its way to Ray's back before resting her head on his shoulder. Ray wraps his right arm around Emma's waist, seemingly out of instinct. He could feel her breath lightly against his shirt. Ray closed his eyes.

Despite being unable to see her face, Ray knew that Emma was at ease, he knew that she hadn't been this relaxed since the night she discovered the truth of the House.

Ray rested his head against hers, as if it was the most natural thing to do. And in a way, it was. Ray and Emma were no strangers when it came to intimacy, but this level of affection, of warmth, was something entirely new and different. And yet, in this very moment, it didn't matter to either of them. The world could throw whatever it wanted at them. But as long as Emma had Ray, and Ray had Emma, they felt they could take on the entire world if they so desired too.

Ray liked being this close with her, liked holding her like this. We should do this more often, he thought.

Emma squeezed his hand, and Ray squeezed hers back. She slipped her hand out of his, and before Ray could even say anything, loosely wrapped her arm around his back. Ray wrapped his left arm around her waist. Their actions mirror what they had done just moments ago.

Emma buried her face in the crook of Ray's neck, and let out a content sigh. Her breath tickled Ray's skin, but he found that he didn't mind.

He could feel her smiling, and Ray wondered if she were to know he was smiling too.

At that thought, it occurred to Ray that he was, indeed, smiling. He felt Emma's lips curl up more, she knows, Ray thought.

They stayed like that, swaying together in some sort of synchronized harmony, with no beat, or melody to guide them, just each other.

They didn't say anything, they didn't need to. Because as much as their minds will try to deny it, they were thinking the same thing.

This is nice.

Let's do this more often.

I want to do this more.

I want to stay by your side.

Let's stay like this.

I like this.

I like being this close to you.

I like holding you like this.

I like you.

I wish we could stay like this all the time.

Then, something changed. Ray felt Emma's eyes open, and her smile softened.

Ray pulled away first, pulled away before she did. Because maybe then it wouldn't hurt as much as he knew it would. His hesitation and insecurity returning to remind him of the reality of their lives. Neither one said anything. His grip around her waist notably loosening.

She did not look at him, didn't meet his eyes. Rather, she stared at his neck. Probably at the numbers that were engraved on his skin. And then she looked up, her eyes meeting his. There was a sort of sad look in them, and Ray absentmindedly wondered if he also had that look in his eyes, and, if so, could Emma see it in him the same way he did with her?

She smiled, but there was a sort of tug at her lips that held the same sadness her eyes had.

"You've gotten taller," Emma whispered, "Not a lot, you've only grown by an inch or so, but I know that you're only going to get taller."

Ray's brows furrowed, he didn't know where this had come from, nor where Emma was going with this. Despite noticing Ray's confused look, she continued.

"Your voice has been cracking recently," Ray frowned at that, visibly upset by her comment, Emma laughed, amused by his reaction, "And it's starting to become deeper." She added with a grin. Then the brightness in her smile faded.

"You've started changing, not that it's a bad change," She said while shrugging, her small smile still present, "We can't really do anything about it."

You too, Ray wanted to say. You've been changing too.

Because she had, while Emma herself may not have noticed it, she too, was taller. Not much, maybe by three inches or so, but still.

"You're changing," She continued, "And so is Don, and Gilda, and Nat, and Anna, and—"

"You." Ray whispered.

Emma smiled sadly, "Yeah," she said, "And me... Everyone is changing." She sighed, and Ray quickly wondered how an act as simple as sighing can hold so many emotions. Her grip loosened, and it wasn't until then when Ray noticed that her grip had actually tightened, instead of loosening like he had.

"I've been thinking a lot lately," Emma started, "About growing up and getting older, and adulthood."

There it is.

Ray couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow, it was strange to hear Emma talking about this sort of thing. Well, okay, not really. They often talked about their future, and what they want to do in the human world and such. But the future and the never-ending cycle of getting older were two, very different things. The future is unknown, it holds nothing but mystery. While aging, is a consistent thing that starts the moment you are born (maybe even conceived), till the very moment you die.

"You don't want to grow up?" Ray asked. And Emma looks up at him with wide eyes.

"You're quick."

"And you're avoiding my question."

Emma makes a face. "I'm not avoiding it; I was complimenting your observation skills!" Emma says in a defense tone. Ray playfully rolled his eyes. Emma started laughing, while Ray smiles fondly at her.

After a moment, Emma's laughter slowly dies down, her eyes seem to dim ever so slightly. A small alarm goes off in Ray's head.

"It's so stupid," Emma starts, "We fight for our survival every day, there's always the chance that something may go wrong, we fight literal demons almost every day, we are at risk of being found, caught, killed almost every, single, day. And yet, I can't help but to think that the thing that scares me the most, is growing up.
"The reason for why we escaped in the first place was because we didn't want to die, we wanted to live, and grow older. Yet here I am fearing the very thought of growing older."

Emma lets out a hollow laugh, lightly bumping her head against his chest. "I've been trying to figure out why I've been feeling like this, but it always leads to nowhere. Maybe I'm just scared of death? I don't know..." She muttered. Ray felt pained. He didn't like seeing Emma like this. No, he didn't like it when Emma would feel this way, period.

There was silence, giving Ray some time to think. Was Emma afraid of getting older because of death? Was she afraid of death? Was he?

No, Ray—involuntarily—came to terms that death is an inevitable thing at a very young age. And even before the escape, he wasn't scared of it. Well no, from the very beginning and even to the moment he dropped that match, there was a part of Ray that was scared of death. For various reasons. And even now, his fear of death was subtlety there. He didn't want to die anymore. In fact, the thought of dying before he was ready, frightened him. And he knew Emma felt the same.

So no, it wasn't the thought of death. Ray doesn't even know how he got to the conclusion of death.

Ray let himself think, think about the things that he normally tried to ignore because he didn't have time for such frivolous things, which weren't really all that stupid anymore because Emma was having them also, not only that, but the thought of Ray not being alone with thoughts like these comforted him.

Was Ray scared of growing up? He wasn't sure. The thought of getting older never scared him, though, the thought of the younger kids growing up did make him a bit sad. But when thinking about aging, Ray never felt fear. If anything, he was glad that he was aging, because in a way, it was proof that he was a survivor.

So no, Ray wasn't scared of growing older. But rather, he had a bittersweet feeling about aging. There was a side of him that was happy, happy because aging means that you are alive. And, as much as Ray didn't show it to anybody besides Emma, he was more than happy to be alive. He was happy to be here with Emma and their family. But he was also... Sad. Because aging also means that things will change. The never-ending cycle of age seemed as if to be the reminder that nothing is ever permanent.

It was bittersweet because, yes, Ray wanted certain things to change. He wanted he and Emma, and their family to live in the human world, wanted the younger children to have a normal childhood, unlike his, and wanted to not have to fight for their survival every day.

But at the same time, he wanted things to stay the same. He wanted their family to stay together and happy, and alive.

This feeling felt so frivolous, and yet, Ray's heart told him that it wasn't.

So maybe, in that way, it really wasn't.

He chuckled at his idiocy. Causing Emma to look up at him.

"What?" She asked, making a face, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Ray said, smiling, "I'm just stupid."

"Yeah, you really are." Emma replied with a smirk. And if it wasn't for the fact that Ray didn't want to move his arms from her waist, he would've lightly flicked her forehead.

"I'm not laughing at you," Ray stated, because he knew that somewhere deep down, Emma would think that he was laughing at her. "I'm laughing at myself because I really am an idiot."

Without missing a beat, Emma replied, "Then let's be idiots together! That way, neither of us can ever get sick!"

Ray laughs, "You still remember that?" He asks.

Emma nods brightly, "Of course!"

Ray begins laughing again, this time, Emma joins him. And the room fills up with their child-like laughter.

Ray slowly stops laughing first, remembering the topic of the conversation they were having beforehand. And for a while he stares at Emma, who is still laughing just a bit. Her eyes are closed, her smile bright and wide, and her cheeks have a natural pink color on them. Sometimes, it was hard for Ray to believe that this same girl was the strongest person out of everyone in their family, constantly fighting against the darkness that was consistently trying to consume the small flicker of light that they held.

"Hey, Emma?"

"Yeah?" Emma looked at Ray, but upon seeing his expression—he was sure he stopped smiling a minute ago—her smile fell.

"I don't think it's because you don't want to grow up, nor is it that you're afraid of getting older. You just don't want things to change." Ray said.

Emma gives him a skeptical look. "What makes you think that?" She asked.

"Well..." Ray somewhat tilts his head to the side as he tries to find the right way to word his sentence.

"You've never really had a problem with growing up before," He starts, "And besides, I think we're all "kind of" mature for our age. And it's not that you're scared of death either. You don't want to die, I know that. But you have also come to terms that it will happen one day, but not one day soon. Not if you, or I have anything to say about it, that is."

Emma tilts her head to the side in somewhat confusion.

"Sorry, but I'm a bit lost. How does that help?"

Ray removes his hands from her waist before placing them firmly on her shoulders, Emma moves her own arms from his back and they hang in mid-air.

"Emma, I want you to close your eyes and take a deep breath. Think about what you want, and think about how you feel. What is it that you're feeling, Emma?"

At first, Emma only stared at Ray with a stunned look, but soon she closed her eyes while taking in a deep breath. And for a while, the room was filled with nothing but silence. All the while Emma was thinking, clearing her thoughts and emotions that had been cluttering her mind for the past week.

She opened her eyes again, a confident, and sure look in them.

"I'm not scared of growing up," She started, "I just don't want things to change, well, I mean I do, but not everything. Like our family, I want all of us to stay together just like this, happy, healthy, and safe. And sometimes, especially when we return from an expedition, I wish that I could freeze a moment, and just, hold it in my hands and cherish it. And sometimes I wish the younger kids could stop growing, because, well, it's just strange to know that they're getting older."

Emma smiles wistfully. "It's not a bad feeling," She continues, "But it's also not a happy feeling. It's rather..."

"Bittersweet?"

Emma looks at Ray for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Bittersweet."

Emma looks back down, followed by yet another moment of silence. Then suddenly Emma throws her arms around Ray, pulling him closer and wrapping her arms around him tightly. Ray wraps his arms around her shoulders.

"Everything's about to change," She whispers against his shoulder, "I can feel it. And I don't know if that feeling is a good or bad thing. And that scares me just a bit."

Ray doesn't say anything, just nods before he holds her even tighter and turning his head just a tiny bit in Emma's direction, his lips lightly brushing against her hair.

"It's okay," He whispers, "I've been feeling that way too, recently."

Emma's grip tightens, and Ray loses track of how long they both stand there, holding each other.

But he finds that he doesn't really care all that much. 

One piece of the few notes that I do have for this one shot, is one that I kind of want to share. It most likely does not make sense LOL, but oh well.

[Ray & Emma are in somewhat of a weird relationship. They both know that they both have feelings for each other, and are shown to be somewhat intimate with each other. But they are not in an official relationship, they do not kiss and such. Their reasoning for this is that they do not have the time for a relationship, it would be unfair to both sides. So, they settled for something in between for the time being, until they reach the human world. This one shot is meant to explore that relationship, and to go inside their minds (though, mostly Ray's). And that, despite how intimate they are with each other already, they both want more, but can't give more for the sake of not only their lives, but also their families. Despite the title being based off the song So Close, it's also meant to represent not only Ray and Emma's relationship itself, but also that "happy ending" that, not only they desire, but everyone else too. That the finish line of their journey is so close, it's within their sight, but it's still very far away. The last line of the song especially represents this (for me personally at least) with the way artist sings it. "So close, and still so far...", to the point where I can almost feel Ray and Emma's light desperation.]