.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Stella and Levi were still a bit shaken up by the previous events. However, Levi was determined to keep his promise to bring Stella back to the house where they had kissed all those months ago. As much as Stella loved the idea, she wished that she could be there to comfort Beth after the news of Zach's death. But Daryl had insisted that they would go.
For Stella, it had always seemed like the man cringed at the mere thought of any romance but he was surprisingly a great wingman.

Stella had made him promise to give Beth a hug from her before she agreed to get into the car with Levi.

The drive to the house wasn't too far however the sun was on its way down when they arrived. Levi kept one hand on the steering wheel as the other rested on Stella's thigh while the girl leaned her head against the window, watching the passing landscape.

They did a quick sweep of the house before finally settling in. Stella walked through the house letting the memories seep back into her head. She entered the room on the second floor, her eyes immediately fixating on the piano. She walked over to it, letting her fingers graze the tiles. A warm feeling grew in her stomach as she remembered the last time she sat there.

the night began to fall over them, the stars spreading over the night sky. Lying on a mattress in the bedroom draped in earl green walls, Stella rested her head against Levi's chest with his arm around her. His hand was intertwined with hers, holding it while his eyes were permanently fixated on her as he listened to a story of her and Carl when they were kids.

He liked listening to her ramble about the old world and what her life looked like before. It was a way for him to escape back to the pre-apocalypse world except his was nothing like hers. Levi grew up without ever being loved by his father, unlike Stella whose father had endless love for his daughter. Levi admired that, deep down hoping that that could be him someday. He wanted to be the father that he never had.

While Levi was loved by both his mother and sister he never had a place he could call home. He would spend a lot of time in their aunt's house, bringing Astrid with him or just crashing at a friend's house. Anything to escape the abusive place he was forced to call home. He never got to have the childhood that Stella now was talking too eagerly about. He loved listening to it.

After her story of how the two kids had adopted a cat off the street keeping it hidden from both Lori and Rick for three months, the teens lay in silence for a moment before Levi sat up quickly. Stella stared at him with confusion as he searched through his pack before revealing a dark green bottle.

"Brought wine." He smiled proudly, making Stella snicker. "Snatched it from the supermarket."

"Dad would kill me if he knew I was doing this right now." The girl said as he poured some into her glass. She didn't even like wine.

"What you think he'd do to me if he found out I was giving this to you?" He smirked as he filled his own glass.

Stella lifted it to her lips letting the liquid flow into her mouth, her face scrunching up at the taste. She tried to spit it back into the glass as sneakily as possible, not letting Levi see that she didn't like the drink he had struggled to find for them.

"Yeah, it's disgusting." Levi laughed as he put his glass back.

His words were followed by a silence as the two stared at each other with a smile. Levi's gaze was plastered on her brown eyes, knowing that he would never get tired of the sight. He admired every feature on her face.

"I wish we could do this in the real world. You know, go on actual dates and live normal lives." Stella said softly as she placed the glass back onto the table. She often thought about what life with Levi would look like if the world hadn't decided to collapse on itself. She would picture herself with him living normal lives. Going grocery shopping together, baking, visiting restaurants, binge-watching shows, and eating junk food until they felt ill.

"Yeah, I know," Levi said, brushing some hair out of her face, letting his hand linger on her cheek as the other hand gave hers a soft squeeze. He often fantasized about a normal life with the girl but the two lived very different lives back then and were very different people. He knew that the two probably never would've ended up together if the world hadn't crashed on them. Which he was grateful for. He'd much rather live in an apocalypse with her than live a normal life with anyone else even if it meant having walkers around every corner.

"Do you miss it?" Stella asked, looking up at Levi. "The old world?"

"Sometimes." He answered. "Not life, but the people that were in it."

Levi never told Stella much about how he grew up. She knew that his Dad had been an ass and he never showed Levi any love at all. The mere thought of him treating young Levi that horribly could never really sink into Stella. She couldn't understand why anyone would do that to their own child, especially to someone as nice and sweet as Levi.

She knew more about Levi's mom and sister. She knew how much he loved them both and how broken he had been after their deaths. Levi had told her about how he fought against the constant consuming thoughts of giving up and take the easy way out after he lost them both. Stella cried when he told her and her heart clenched at the thought of Levi suffering alone for all those months when he was alone before he found Stella and their old camp.

"Do you?" Levi asked

"Sometimes," Stella said. "Not just my old life but what life would have looked like. I was so excited to go to college and hopefully get my own place after. I wanted a family of my own. Have my wedding. Then get kids of my own. Two girls and a boy." Stella smiled to herself as she spoke. She had it all planned out by the age of ten but she needed someone along with her. A partner. Now she had that but she couldn't have any of the other things she had dreamed of. She couldn't get married. She couldn't bring kids into this cruel world. "Hopefully get a dog and move to a big farm where they could all grow up around animals."

Levi's heart twisted as he listened to her desires, wanting nothing more than to give her all those things she dreamed of. No matter how unlikely it was to have all that in the world they lived in - He was ready to do anything in the world to give her all that.

"All of that is still possible." He said. "Only if you promise that I get to name one of our dogs."

Stella chuckled. "Who said we were gonna have more than one?"

"Of course we do. Otherwise, it would be lonely."

Stella giggled and sat up slightly, supporting herself with her arms. "Go on then." She nodded and the boy cleared his throat.

"Okay, hear me out." He made a dramatic pause. "Skittles."

Stella laughed. Hard.

"I thought you said you hated Skittles." She cocked her head to the side.

"I never said that I hated them." Levi corrected her. "It's just, you know, you like them and it's unique."

Stella didn't look persuaded making Levi grimace like her disagreement about the name was a personal insult. "Okay, what would you have named it?"

"Let's see..." she paused as she took a moment to ponder. "How about Ollie?"

"That's alright. Not as good as Skittles though." He smiled.

Stella snickered and leaned her head back on his chest.

"How are you? After today and all." Levi asked after a moment of silence, watching her rest her head against him.

"A bit shaken up," Stella said as her mind shifted back to what happened in the supermarket. She had been looking death in the eye but somehow she managed to live but Zach didn't.

"I thought I had lost you," Levi said, his eyes plastered on hers. "You scared the life out of me. Don't ever do that again. You can't die."

"It's hard to keep those kinds of promises these days." Stella chuckles lightly.

"I'm serious. I can't live without you. Ever." Levi's words made the girl meet his gaze, keeping it for multiple moments before sending him a warm smile.  Levi's gaze danced over her face, admiring every feature on it before stopping at her lips. He locked his lips with hers letting her melt into him. He grazed her cheeks with his hand before placing it on her jawline. She leaned in deeper, letting him take over her senses with his sent, his touch, his mouth.
She smiled against his lips before climbing on top of him, straggling him underneath. She pulled away, giving the two a moment to stare silently at each other, with eyes flaming with love.

"You're the love of my life, you know that right?" Levi whispered. Stella froze for a moment as her heart raced in her chest.

You're the love of my life.

That was the closest he had ever said to those three words that were constantly spinning in Stella's mind.
A warm smile appeared on her face and she nodded.
"You're the love of mine."

Levis's eyes flamed at the words, turning dark as he kissed her again. His hands met her hips and his tongue slipped inside her mouth.

Stella's hands traveled to his hair, tangling her fingers in it. Levi kissed down her jawline, moving down to her neck where he placed gentle kisses and bites making Stella whimper softly.

Levi rolled them both around so that Stella was on her back with him over her. Instead of kissing her, his eyes traveled over her body with endless admiration. She wore a black shirt that hugged her waist perfectly and green cargo pants stained with blood from the events at the supermarket.

He dipped his head down again, kissing her as he held himself up with his hands on either side of her face.

"Levi," she said, but the boy's name came out more like a whimper as he kissed the spot on her neck. "I don't know if I'm ready."

Levi pulled away and Stella expected to see disappointment on his face but he looked nothing but understanding as he smiled at her. "I know."

Stella refused to admit it, but Levi knew that the events with the governor and his actions had affected her.

Levi placed a last kiss on her lips before rolling over allowing Stella to place her head back on his chest, drowning in her thoughts as her eyelids started to get heavy. The girl slowly closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep in the comfort of Levi's arms as his hands brushed over her arms. Once she had drifted off, Levi reached for the camera before taking a picture of the sleeping girl in his arms.

________

The girl was woken up by the sound of the floor creaking. Her eyes immediately shot open as she rose to a sitting position on the mattress on the floor, pulling out the knife from under her pillow. Her gaze shifted around the room upon realizing that Levi was gone. The grip on her weapon tightened as she stood up searching around the room.

The girl let out a relieved sigh when she noticed that the bathroom door was locked leading her to believe that the boy was in there. Just as she was about to place her head back on the pillow her eyes fixated on something red. Blood. The red liquid had seeped into Levi's pillow and within seconds the girl stood outside the bathroom door, banging on it lightly.

"Lev, are you okay?" She asked, shivering at the coldness in the room.

"Get away." He grunted followed by a cough. Stella felt a wave of worry wash over her hearing the boy's voice. He sounded weak and almost in pain.

"Levi, what's going on? Open the door." She grabbed the doorknob rattling it in hopes of getting the door open.

"Please, step away." The boy pleaded.

Stella didn't listen. She pulled the doorknob even harder at the sound of his pained voice. "Tell me what's up."

"I'm stepping out."

Stella took an unsure step back, watching as the door opened, slowly revealing the boy inside. The moonlight shone right in his face, illuminating the exhausted face with beads of sweat scattered over it. His eyes wore dark circles that hadn't been visible before and his skin had gone pale.

"Stella, I don't feel so good."

_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____
𝟐𝟐𝟏𝟕 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
_____ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ _____

𝐀/𝐍
the end hurts my heart sm
but I love the rest of this chapter