Rhea was sitting behind the desk in the office at the restaurant doing her best to focus on the numbers swimming on the screen in front of her. Otto and Lola had kept her out late the night before and she was paying for it. They had gone out to one of the local bars after the movie, and one game of darts had turned into three and the drinks were flowing, she didn't get back to her father's house until after three and they had had to leave at six to get the island in time for her to make breakfast. She wasn't hungover, she was just exhausted.

A knock on the door made her raise her head but before she could erase the weary look from her face Eli entered, closing the door behind him. He had left the inn after breakfast so she hadn't seen him all day. It amazed her how, after only a week and a half of his presence, she had gotten used to him being around and the house had felt empty with him gone.

"Did you have too good of a time last night?" he asked, making himself at home in the guest chair next to the desk.

She shrugged, wary at his sudden appearance. He looked good, he was wearing dark blue jeans with a dress shirt and sports coat, he looked relaxed as he stretched his long legs out in front of him. She let her eyes wander to his hands where they impatiently drummed on the arm of the chair.

He caught her looking at the small tell and he smiled at her questioning look.

"You didn't come home until this morning?" He sounded merely curious at the development.

"I live on an island, it's not as if transportation home is easy to come by."

He nodded as he thought about it, his eyes not releasing hers.

"What!" She had finally had enough of his staring and the word burst from her.

"I really am sorry about the other morning. I know that if you were pregnant with my child you would never keep that from me. Do you forgive me? You never said if you did or not."

Rhea felt her heart stutter at the thought of having Eli's child. That would be wonderful and the thought was clear for anyone to read. She never had been very good at hiding her feelings.

"I feel the same way by the way." He interrupted her thought.

Her eyes flew open to find he was watching her closely, his eyes darker than usual with a feeling she didn't recognize. "How do you feel and about what?" she asked, playing dumb.

"The idea of you carrying my child, being the mother of my children, the thought of it makes me unbelievably happy." Rhea barely had time to absorb this overwhelming statement before he had returned to his previous question. "Do you forgive me Sunny?"

"Yes Eli, I forgive you." She nodded. "Sometimes I wish that I had gotten pregnant, then I would have had a reason to contact you, but..." she let the thought drift off wordlessly, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her. What was it about this man that made her so willing to share every thought she had?

"But?"

She shook her head. "I would have made you feel trapped, and you probably always would have wondered if I had done it on purpose."

"It still would have been better than having you walk out of my life," he argued, she noted that he didn't deny that he probably would have had the thought.

"No, it wouldn't have because now, at least, we don't hate each other Eli."

"We could never hate each other Sunny, I'm sure of that."

A silence descended as the stared at each other, both lost in their own thoughts of what they would and wouldn't be able to forgive of each other, and Rhea realized that she would forgive the man just about anything.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked, thinking of how much he would have come to hate her if she had stayed.

"Because you and I know each other better than anyone else knows us." He leaned forward.

"That's why you accused me of keeping Aion from you?" She struck back.

"I didn't believe it, not really. I was hopeful and jealous."

She leaned back in her chair mouth agape and eyes wide at his revelation. "I'm sorry, you're going to have to explain that one."

He smiled his sexy smile. "I wanted him to be mine because then I would get to keep you in my life."

He watched calmly as Rhea jumped up from her chair and backed away from him. He couldn't say that, it wasn't fair.

"I was jealous because I didn't like the thought of you with another man because I see you as mine."

Rhea shook her head at his admission. She was his but he could never know that.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe you," she insisted with a croaky throat, she wished that she could. She wanted to, but he could have any woman in the world he wanted, why would he want her?

"I know you don't, I've never given you a reason to believe me." He stood up and walked towards Rhea as she backed away from him. She ended up backing herself onto a corner. "So, I've decided that I'm going to give you a few."

"Eli," she said weakly as he hovered above her, he was so tall, she had forgotten how large he really was.

He placed his wonderful hands on her shoulders and looked down into her face with a tender smile. "Sunny, will you go out with me?"

"Out with you?" she asked confused.

"Yes, on a date, somewhere nice, dinner, a movie, dancing. You name it."

She felt his hands on her shoulders tighten as he awaited her answer. "Isn't it a little late for a date, aren't we kind of doing things backwards?"

"It's a relationship that is uniquely ours. We can do it our way, and we already know each other's souls but we don't know the normal stuff."

"Normal stuff?" Her head was swimming but she couldn't dispute that they knew each other's souls. She had never felt as close to any other human being in her life. The night they had spent together had changed who she was, there had been no going back, at least not for her, and now Eli was admitting the same thing.

"You know, your favorite color, food, movie, stuff like that."

"But I know most of that stuff about you already Eli."

She watched a brief look of pain cross his face and he bowed his head. "That shames me Sunny."

"How?"

"You took the time to learn it but I never did and I should have."

Rhea shook her head in denial at his statement. "Why would you?"

"Because I love you Sunny, and because I love you I should know stuff like that."

She couldn't believe that Elias Emory had just told her he loved her, her knees started to shake and she moved away from him and back towards her desk chair. He didn't try to stop her, he only turned to watch her as he sat heavily in the chair. What strange dream world had she suddenly landed in?

She looked over at Eli and he looked grim, he was upset at the thought that he had shocked her, her reaction hadn't been what he had expected. He had probably thought she would fall in his arms, and she wanted to, she wanted him to kiss her.

"Maybe you know more than you realize?" she insisted, not wanting him to feel hurt and trying to distract him from that fact that she hadn't said she loved him in return. She did love him, but to say it would ruin both of their lives.

"There's only one way to find out."

"A date?"

"A date," he confirmed.

"Fine, but I want to plan it," she insisted.

He looked like he was about to object.

"I want to keep it private, just the two of us, and I know all the good places to go where we won't be seen," she insisted again.

"Ashamed to be seen with me?"

She blushed and let her eyes dart towards him. "No, but I don't like the idea of people wondering what the hell you see in me and asking themselves that question. And when you leave it will make it even harder because people will know that you've decided that you don't want me."

"Sunny, I will always want you." His voice was low and rough as the words covered Rhea liked a warm blanket. "Fine, you plan the dates, we'll go on one tomorrow. You tell me when and where," he agreed.

She nodded, still reeling from his words of want and love. The entire conversation had been surreal.

"I have one more question Sunny."

She nodded again, not realizing that she had a look of wonder on her face.

"Who did you stay with last night?"

Rhea was confused by the change in the direction of conversation.

"I've already told you I'm extremely jealous where you're concerned and I think of you as mine."

The part of Rhea that wasn't a complete doormat took charge. "I stayed with a friend." Let him wonder where she stayed.

Before he could quiz her anymore there was a knock at the door and Rhea called for the person to enter.

Otto looked from her to Eli and Rhea could see Phoebe looking at them over Otto's shoulder.

Eli smiled a friendly smile at the two, not looking in the least like he wanted to shake Rhea until she told him what he wanted to know. "When does the last ferry leave this evening Otto?"

"In an hour, I'll take Rhea home."

Eli looked at Rhea his eyebrow raised. "I hope you won't mind me tagging along?" he asked, his smile still holding but his hand was a fist at his side. He looked friendly enough, but to Rhea it looked like the calm before the storm.

"Not at all," Otto said with a friendly smile, completely unaware of the tension that filled the room. She wondered what Otto, and Phoebe for that matter, would say if they could have heard their earlier conversation. They would no doubt think that her affair with Eli and his words of love were all a joke.

"Good, then I'll see you in an hour." He nodded as he left with one last look at Rhea over his shoulder. Phoebe decided that she would follow Eli. He was much more interesting than anything Rhea and Otto would discuss.