The light clicking of the key turning the lock echoed off of each wall bouncing back at me. The tension that was already rising in the room before he had even made it through the door was thick and unsettling. Hearing the door creak open followed by heavy footsteps making their entrance caused my entire body to tense up and freeze.

Now that Mark was home, I just didn't know what to expect and panic flooded over my body wondering what may occur from this point on. I didn't have the energy to fight, I didn't have the will to keep calm. All day I had been battling against a break down, and now that I had to face him I didn't know how I'd hold over. After the day I had, the last thing I wanted was another argument. I just couldn't handle that right now.

"Hey," Mark called out from behind me. Instantaneously my heart sank into my gut and my whole body grew chill but for the moment, I just couldn't turn around to face him. "Hi," I whispered trying to keep to myself and focus on my work. The entire atmosphere in the room had changed, and became still as soon as he stepped foot in the house. Somehow it seemed more quiet now than it did when I was here by myself and something about that made me uneasy.

"Getting your homework done?"--"Yup." Much too vain to even look back at him and show him how much of a wreck I really was, I kept tight focus on the pages down in front of me. Each word I read seemed to be spilling off the pages but, I could no longer concentrate. I stared blankly down at my page hoping the answers would just come to me but my focus was broken by Mark setting something down in front of me. Flowers.

Seeing the bright hues of the beautiful arrangement, seemed to put a little colour back into my world and as much as I wanted to break into a smile this just didn't make any sense. "Why don't you take a break for a little while and have dinner with me," he purred into my ear bending down kissing my cheek as if nothing had changed. The sweet fragrance assaulting my senses was hard to place, it didn't smell like any particular flower I was familiar with but was so calming. Not to mention it was a gesture so sweet it was enough to give me butterflies.

"What are these for?" Although I was very appreciative of the gesture I was more confused than anything and, I certainly didn't feel I was deserving of it. I set my pen down off to the side of my binder and allowed my fingers to dance across the wrapping of the bouquet. It was all still kind of hard to take in. Last night it seemed like WWIII, this morning we barely spoke and now, not only was he bringing me home flowers but, he was being so sweet. It just didn't add up.

"Look babe, I'm trying and instead of questioning me, why don't you try too?" He made a valid point. Even if I still felt like we should talk about what happened perhaps that was a conversation best left for another day. Tonight we can just worry about us, and making this better. "Yeah, you're right. Thank you babe." We are both so stubborn that we could go around in circles all night, never having peace. As reluctant as I was to just let it go when clearly nothing had been solved, I let it slip, for now.

"You're welcome. So why don't you put your homework away and have some dinner?" I sprung up immediately and looked around. I could see the darkened sky out of the window from where I was sitting, and my attention was immediately brought to the clock on the wall revealing that it was now passed 7:00. As surprising as it was to see that so much time had passed, I was more interested in knowing what had taken Mark so long.

Staring off at Mark who was unpacking a take out bag from a local Chinese place, I was hesitant to ask. He seemed so focused and lost in thought. It was like the lights were on and nobody was home. Something appeared to be heavily weighing on his mind. I was almost afraid to ask, worried I might bring this full circle and open up wounds long before he was ready to discuss them. He just seemed somewhat shut off and distant, no matter how much he was trying to act natural. I could just sense it. Something was bothering him but, I figured rather than pry, I'd let him open up to me if and when he's ready.

The offer of taking a much needed break and having something to eat was tempting. I had worked hard and a break was something I felt I desperately deserved. A quiet evening together over dinner was also something we both so clearly needed, especially after last night. Hearing my stomach begin to growl at the sight of the chicken chow mein Mark was platting at the counter made me realize how hungry I actually was. I had zero appetite all day because my nerves were still so in shock but, at least now I could actually go for something to eat.

I began to gather my textbooks and binder, closing them all and stacking them into a neat pile setting them off on the chair beside me for the time being. I was a little disappointed in the amount if work I was able to get done but, shook it off knowing I'd have the rest of the weekend to finish it. Right now, trying to fix what felt so broken was more important.

"Just set your flowers on the counter for now while we eat. I'll get a vase for those later." Mark turned to me with two plates in hand, and a bright warm smile that kinda melted my heart. Seeing the gleam in his eyes as he looked over to me gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that in the moment lifted my spirits entirely. I knew he was somewhat good at hiding something that was on his mind and a moment ago he seemed perplexed but this, this felt normal to me. I shrugged any and all negative thoughts off to the side and managed to smile back at him. Perhaps I was just thinking too much into this.

"They really are beautiful baby, thank you." I griped the bouquet in hand, taking them with me to the counter and set them down as requested. "You're welcome. After all that's happened, I owe you so much more." He really didn't owe me anything. I now had somewhat of an understanding as to what set him off last night, and as far as I was concerned, it was my fault entirely. The only thing he owed me was the same thing I owed him: an apology for how we acted and a lovely evening together that could begin the healing. I was able to smile realizing we were at least on the right track.

Table having been cleared, when I turned back around there were two plates situated on opposite sides and Mark appeared to be patiently waiting for me to join him. The glance he gave me as I approached the table was so warm, and his half grin was a sorts of comfort. I only realized in that moment how much I missed seeing that smile, even if it had only been about twenty four hours since I had last seen it. It was a type of soothing that I felt my very soul needed.

I sat myself into the empty chair, across from Mark, tucking myself in, beginning to examine my plate just so anxious to dig in. "So how was school?" A part of me was kind of caught off guard with that question. It kind of felt forced. Out of all the things there was to talk about he chose to asked about school. Not particularly something I wanted to talk about but I looked at it as creating the opportunity for dialog.

"Fine I guess. Same shit different day. We started sketching live models in Visual Arts today, definitely not my proudest work." A small grin played on my face thinking back to how terrible my sketch actually was but, a full hearted attempt was there. Setting my fork down onto my place for a second, I made it a point to pull my sketchbook from the pile of books I had set off on the side. Of course, showing him the drawing could have waited until after dinner but, I wanted him to see it before I forgot about it.

"Promise not to laugh," I ordered flipping the book open to my sketch, kind of hesitate if I even did want to show him. "I promise nothing," he teased. Knowing he was kidding, I handed my sketchpad across the table awaiting the uproar of laughter I knew I'd receive. I was right. Mark took one look at my drawing and had to cover his mouth in an attempt to not spew food everywhere.

"It's uh... Who's it supposed to?"--"Rude!" Quickly I stood up, reached across the table and I snatched it back in a huff and retook my seat. "We were asked to draw a classmate. I drew Jewels and she drew me." I took one last look down at the sketch before closing the sketch book. It really was a terrible attempt and it really wasn't his fault he couldn't tell who it was.

"It isn't as bad as you think. It's just that your proportions are off. If you want my opinion, I wasn't even sure if it was human." I looked up from my plate to see Mark, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I knew he was joking, and I couldn't very well take offence to it. After all, I did say it wasn't my best work. "I'll probably redo it sometime this weekend because to be honest, I'd be ashamed to put my name on that. I just..."

I let out a sigh trying to find the right words to use. We were having a nice chat so far, there was no reason to open a can of words. "I just couldn't focus today." The expression on Mark's face seemed to be that of regret, and all of a sudden the warm atmosphere that we had begun to build shifted back to something cold and still. This wasn't what I wanted, so I tried my best to divert the the conversation to something else.

"So, what's got you home so late?" Mark's chin sank into his chest, and eyes darted back down to his plate but, I couldn't help notice that he didn't instantly answer. "I had to stay behind after school with a student to go over an assignment they didn't understand." Internally I was laughing to myself. Giving out assignments during the first week of school was something I could totally see Mark doing. However even then, it shouldn't have taken him that long.

Trying to keep a healthy dialog going, I continued with my rambles. "Then what'd you do? Tell me about your day baby, I wanna hear all about it." Just observing him bringing his fork up to his mouth seemed like an effort, and I could sense the tension rising. His expression was emotionless and eyes appeared to be glazed over. I thought nothing more of it than perhaps he had just as bad of a day as I did and simply didn't want to discuss it. "What's with all the questions?"

I dropped my fork onto my plate, just staring at him as if he was going to elaborate. I was simply trying to keep a conversation going but his tone of voice cut into my like a knife. It was so serious and laced with bitterness. Although I was slightly taken back, I kind of felt bad for even asking. "I-I'm sorry," I stuttered sinking deeper into my chair and bringing my focus back down to my plate as if the food set in front of me held some sort of interest.

"I just... never mind," I huffed feeling the weight of both curiosity and regret flood over me. My attention was brought back up to Mark only when he let of deep, breathily sigh. "N-no, don't worry about it. I just had something to take care of." His words hit me in a strange way, and infinity peaked my curiosity. It seemed as if he was trying to be as vague as possible and although I was inquisitive as to why and somewhat concerned, I respected his privacy and didn't want to pry any further.

The conversation after that seemed to have rolled to a sudden halt, and now, I just wasn't sure what to say. I kind of felt like perhaps it was best I kept to myself, I couldn't even look back up to him. Mark didn't seem like himself. Something just seemed so off and knowing that, it made me uncomfortable. Something was on his mind and whatever it was, I could sense it was weighing on him heavily.

"You know I love you right," Mark whimpered in softly spoken words. Hearing him say that lit a tingling warmth in my heart that rapidly took over my entire body. I felt as if I was beaming with joy, and floating on a cloud. That was something I desperately needed to hear, for my own sake, and quickly any and all tension from earlier began to dissipate. My eyes fluttered closed while I allowed myself to be consumed by this uplifting sensation of gratification. I knew he loved me no matter how often we fought. A feeling like that just doesn't stop. "Mmhmm," I murmured with a gentle nod and a soft grin playing from ear to ear. "I love you too."

When I opened my eyes, I was expecting to see a reddish tinge to his cheeks, a wide charming smile and a fiery passion burning bright in his gaze but, that wasn't what I got. At least not at first. Mark's head was still hung, and from what I could tell there was no fire of passion in his eyes. There wasn't much of anything. For a brief moment, I watched him as he chased a piece of chicken around on the plate with his fork, and he seemed so... distant. He just kept shifting from one extreme to another and that had me worried.

"Is something wrong?" He merely shook his head from side to side, with a boyish smirk that made my heart flutter when he peered back up to me. "No. Everything's perfect. Just promise me something?" So long as he said he alright that relieved my concern, perhaps I was just over analyzing the situation. However, I was very curious as to what he wanted me to promise. Whatever it was, he now had my full attention. "Anything," I nodded in agreement. "Just promise me that whatever we may face, we'll ALWAYS find a way to work it out."

My ears perked up as he hit that emphasis on 'always,' and I found my cheeks heating up into a light blush. Just something about what he said hit me just the right way. It felt as if we had finally reached an unspoken middle ground, and although we'd eventually have to talk about what happened I felt significantly better about this entire situation. "Oh, baby. That's all I want."-- "Good, because I love you and I always want you to remember that."

***

The remainder of dinner felt natural, like everything was normal. We had a pleasant conversation that didn't seem nearly as forced as it did earlier when we spoke about school. For the first time in the last twenty four hours, I was happy and he appeared to be too. However sadly,  that didn't last too long. After we were through with dinner Mark had gone back to his office to finish off some papers and I was stuck at the table, doing my homework once again.

The chiming of the clock on the wall shook me from my state of concentration and I peered up with a grown. It was only after I peeked up to the clock that I realized how droopy my eyes had become and how sluggish I felt. I slumped back in my seat with a sigh and dropped my pen. Just examining how much work I had actually gotten done gave me a sense of accomplishment but, thought it best to call it a night.

With a booming thud that echoed throughout the house, I closed my binder and pushed it away from me. After all the work I had done, the last thing I wanted was to look at that thing for another moment longer. At least until tomorrow when I wouldn't exactly have a choice. Knowing I'd be back at the table bright and early to get more of it complete, I left my binder and textbooks strewed across the table and got up.

I felt more exhausted than ever, and knowing there was a warm, comfortable bed in the other room, I made haste to the kitchen light switch to turn out the light before making my way down the hallway. I could practically hear the bed calling my name, and I just knew tonight I was going to have one of the best sleeps of my life. I didn't particularly care to do my night routine tonight, I was far too lazy and too tired. I felt as though I could drop at any moment. Instead I carried on passed the bathroom, dragging my feet down the hallway quietly trying to not disrupt Mark. I was just so looking forward to feeling that soft pillow under my head and couldn't make it to the bedroom quick enough.

"You going to bed now," I heard Mark call from the office as I got closer to it's doorframe. A small giggle escaped my lips seeing that he had heard me. I had tried my best to stay quiet for him but, the creaking hardwood floors beneath my feet must have given me away. "Yeah, I'm just going to head to bed, I'm way too tired." There was a sudden silence as I finally made it to the doorway and peered inside. Judging by the papers on his desk and the scowl on his face he was overworked and just as exhausted as I was. "It's awfully cold in here. Why don't you come to bed and keep me warm?" The suggestion was innocent enough although it wasn't cold at all, I just wanted to snuggle.

After the week we had and more specifically after the day I had, I just needed to feel my body pressed tight against his, the warm sensation of his touch against my skin and my head on his chest just getting lost in the beat of his heart. The thought alone gave me butterflies. Butterflies I hadn't felt in such a long time. After everything that had happened lately, I felt like we had reached a comfortable calm. In his strong, loving embrace was exactly where I wanted to be tonight. If not for any other reason than for validation alone that everything was alright. It was something I needed, desperately.

Mark cocked his head just slightly enough to take notice to my presence, and raised an eyebrow at me with a sly grin. "It's not that cold," he replied followed by his sweet bellowing laughter that always managed to make me smile. "I'm kind of tired myself. Let me just finish these last few papers and I'll be in soon." Satisfied with my answer, I left him to finish his work and found my way to the bedroom.

The sight of the soft, cozy bed was beckoning me and submitting to it's calling, I began to strip. With a small click I had the button to my jeans undone and the zipper soon followed. Dropping my jeans to the floor I stepped out of them kicking them off to my side of the bedroom before finally being able to crawl up from the bottom of the bed and onto my side of it. The sheets beneath my fingertips never felt softer, and the sight of something as simple as a pillow had never made me more excited. I was thrilled that after a long and stressful day, it was finally over.

I collapsed onto the bed and clung to the blanket as if my life were dependent upon it beginning to reflect on the day's events. I was always told that things get worse before they can get better and I was hoping that would ring true. Although Mark and I were fine again, much of my life still felt broken. I hadn't spoken to my family in a few weeks and now Juliet wanted nothing to do with me but I was trying to look on the bright side, if there was a brighter side of things.

Although I was kicked out of the house, I still had a roof over my head. Even if Juliet was pissed I knew eventually she'd get over it and at least I wasn't completely alone anymore. I had Mark, and so long as we kept our promise about always working passed our issues no matter what, I always would have him. Having felt earlier like I had lost everything, I now realized exactly how much I need these people in my life. Even if it took me ages, I was determined to do what I could to make things rights again.

I was uncertain how, and I knew that I would have to take baby steps to do it but, I was confident I could fix this mess. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to loose anything else in the process. Somehow, I found my reflection to be very therapeutic. This was the moment that the peace of mind I was looking for began to sink in. With a more positive frame of mind I snuggled deeper into the pillow and closed my eyes allowing a heartfelt grin to grace my face and sleep to take it's toll.

Not too long after I had finally settled down and started to drift off to sleep, I was startled hearing the bedroom door shut tightly. Knowing it was Mark getting ready for bed, I didn't bother to move just yet and remained as I was. "Hey babe," Mark whispered as I felt the bed slightly sink in. I opened my eyes to find, Mark kneeling at the bottom of his side of the bed just looking at me with those lust filled eyes. I had a strong feeling, I knew what was coming next.

"You know what the best thing about fighting is?" Just hearing him say 'fight,' immediately caused me to shudder but, this didn't sound like it was going to lead to a negative discussion. I embraced the conversation he wished to have and came to a sitting position, just waiting for a response. "Make up sex," he replied. As tired as I was, that was something I just couldn't say no to.

Watching as he crawled off the bed, he had that fiery passion in his eyes that I was looking for earlier. Finally everything felt ENTIRELY normal and I welcomed it. With a sexy smoulder in his eyes, Mark stared me down causing me to bite on my bottom lip with anticipation. His fingers danced over one button and then another undoing them slowly as if to tease me, and it was working. Watching each individual button pop open revealing those broad shoulder, and his toned chiseled chest had me so giddy inside. I found I had a hard time trying to keep still.

Feeling my body temperature begin to rise before anything had even happened, I leaned back against the headboard enjoying the rest of the show. He was right about what he said earlier this week though, I wasn't the only tease around here. Of course, I'd never admit it. Finally after what felt like an agonising wait, Mark had begun to remove his shirt, slowing his motions just keeping me waiting even longer.

In a single moment, before I could realize what had happened, my vision had gone dark and I felt a layer of fabric lining my face. A small giggle escaped me when I realized it was his shirt that he had thrown at me, and just so happened to land on top of my head. It smelled so much like him for a moment but then quickly, I began to smell something else that overshadowed his scent. 'Flowers...?'

I knew that just didn't make sense. I didn't understand how I could smell the flowers he had bought when they weren't even in the room. As I pulled his shirt off of my head, the air that swept between my face and the fabric was enough to cause a gust of wind to pass through and that same aroma assaulted my senses again.

A chill quickly shot down my spine, and my blood had run cold as I tried to isolate the mixture that I had gotten a wiff of. The more and more I tried to place it, the sicker it made me. I swear I could feel my face drain of all color. A lump had formed in my throat and my whole body began to tremble. My heart came to a full sudden stop before entirely shattering when it finally clicked. 'Is that... perfume?'