Sighing softly, she opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them before stilling as she took in her surroundings. She was on a beach, the sun had yet to fully rise, and hints of the previous night still lingered.

Inhaling deeply, she looked down and realized she wasn’t alone. The large body draped over hers was warm and comforting, his head resting on her chest. Veronica felt her throat starting to close; it was obvious she was still dreaming. She wasn’t really on the beach, she was in her room in his house and she’d wake up any minute and last night will have been a dream.

Veronica wrapped her arms around him the best she could, not bothering to wipe at the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. She lifted her gaze to the sky; she wanted it to be real so bad. She wanted to believe that just last night, he’d told her that he loved her, that he was in love with her and that he wanted to be with her. She tightened her hold on him, giving him a fierce squeeze and was only slightly startled to hear him moan softly.

Sniffling she looked down at him, his eyes closed, his breathing deep as he slept. She didn’t want to wake up and find him gone, didn’t want to wake up and find she was no closer to him than she’d ever been. Bringing her hand up, she ran her fingers through his soft hair, massaging his scalp gently and heard him groan again, a small smile on his lips.

Closing her eyes, she let herself relive the dream, the perfection of it. He’d held her and told her he couldn’t be without her, that he didn’t want to be. Then he’d taken her, claiming her body with his own and whispered words of lasting love and of finally finding his way home. And she’d believed him, found herself daring to trust this man who’d overwhelmed her in more ways than she could count. She’d told him yes, told him that she’d wanted to be with him too.

Only the dream hadn’t ended yet and here they were, in the aftermath and she was waiting, waiting for the moment when she’d wake up.

“Mmm baby?”

Veronica opened her eyes and looked down to find he was staring at her sleepily.

“Veronica? Why are you up? It’s too early honey, c’mon, go back to sleep,” he murmured.

Go back to sleep? She was still asleep.

“Jesus, I’m surprised you could sleep at all with me laying on you like this, sorry sweetie, I was so tired last night I conked right out on top of you,” he sighed, carefully rolling off of her and onto his side, pulling her against him.

“Nick…” she whispered hoarsely.

“Hmmm?” He groaned, burying his face in her neck, nuzzling her gently as he slid his hand down, pulling her leg over his hip.

She tried to speak, but couldn’t force the words from her lips.

Nick pulled away suddenly to look at her, “You ok?”

She stared at him as it suddenly hit her, it wasn’t a dream, last night wasn’t a dream, it’d actually happened. She was there, in his arms and it was all very real. Veronica brought her hands up, cupping his face; she couldn’t speak over the lump in her throat.

It was real.

“Veronica? You’re scaring me, what’s wrong?” Nick said, worry etching his features.

Suddenly she felt the need to laugh, her body starting to tremble with unreleased laughter. A dazzling smile spread over her lips and she leaned in, kissing him hard and deep like she’d always dreamed she’d wanted to. She heard his whimper of surprise and hugged him tight to her before slowly pulling away, a stunned but pleased Nick looking back at her.

“Whew, what brought that on?” He grinned.

“I’m happy,” she announced.

“Well hell, I’m gonna make sure you stay that way if I get that kind of kiss all the time, damn girl,” Nick chuckled, leaning in to kiss her again before pulling away. “So I was thinking, since today is our last full day together, we should spend the day together just hanging out alone.”

She chuckled, “Are you sure you don’t want to invite your friends over or go and hang out with them? I’d like to see them before I leave.”

Nick shook his head, “No way, I don’t want anyone to interrupt us, I don’t want to have to share you with anyone.”

“Nick…”

He frowned suddenly, “I can’t stand to think about you leaving, what am I going to do without you?”

“We’ll see each other again soon.”

He shook his head, “I wish I’d said something sooner, we’ve just now admitted our feelings and now you’re leaving. It’s too soon, too soon after to have to…”

It was her turn to frown this time, “Nick, it’s not like we won’t talk on the phone or whatever.”

“It’s not enough, it wasn’t enough before for, it’s going to be even worse now.”

She shook her head; she couldn’t believe he was saying it to her.

“What?”

“Nothing it’s just…I dunno, I never expected to hear you say that, at least to me.”

“Why not?”

“Because…it’s me. I never figured you’d miss me like that, never thought that…ya know.”

“Then you’d really be surprised to know that when you left after the concert, I was miserable, I didn’t want you to go then, it’s why I asked you to come see me now. I…I didn’t want you to leave without knowing when I’d see you again,” Nick admitted, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“You’re right, I am surprised.”

“I loved being around you, I still do. I hate when you leave or when we can’t be together,” he said softly, leaning in, kissing her neck gently.

“W-wow…”

“When we get back to my place, we’ll figure out how we’ll do this. Come up with some kind of…I dunno, schedule or something.”

She gave him a small smile, “It’s going to be tough Nick, we’re in two different states. You know how hard long distance relationships are I’m sure.”

“I don’t care, I’ll do whatever it takes Veronica,” he stated, a serious expression on his face.

She chuckled again, “I don’t know that I’m worth all this.”

“You are, you’re worth all of this and more. I want this to work Veronica, we can make this work.”

Veronica nodded, “Yeah.”

“I need you to believe it, I need you to want it as much as me baby.”

“I do Nick, trust me when I say that I really do.”

He gave her a smile, “Let’s a few hours more of sleep and then we’ll head back ok?”

She nodded again, and snuggled against him, finding that for the first time in a long time, she was content.