"Oh jee-sus your feet are cold!"

"Nnnmmmrrrmmm?"

Crack!

"Ow! Shit!"

"Hmmnnmmh?"

I started to rub my head, suddenly remembering where I was through the pain. Frankie laid warmly beside me on his stomach, hugging his pillow like it was a teddy bear under his cheek. The cold spot of where Frankie's foot had touched my leg was still cool. In the semi-darkness, I looked around.

The small sleeping cabin of Frankie's yacht was illuminated lightly by the streaming moon over the water of the harbor. Everything was a blue cast, reflecting on us like winter illuminations. I put my head back on my pillow, which had become chilly even after a few moments without my head.

"Are you okay, my pretty love?"

Frankie's gorgeously warm hand was on my stomach now, resting there. The slight light was catching the shine in his tired sea colored eyes. A trance came over me, from his young beauty. My hand stayed on my head, which I realized still had on a pale blonde wig, the curls all messed up from sleep now. It would be a hassle to reset later, but for now...

"Yes, I'm okay, baby," I whispered to him, cuddling to him and ignoring the lingering pain from whacking my head on the low ceiling. Something about the experience vaguely reminded me of sleepovers from childhood with bunkbeds. But I didn't care to think about that right now. My eyes wandered down towards the end of the bed, and saw the problem lying there.

Carefully sitting up, I curled my body under the ceiling to reach the covers that had come away from Frankie's feet. With a fling, I slung the comforter over the edge of the bed, wrapping us in warmth.

"Mmm, thank you," he whispered to me, smiling in his sweet way. His leanly muscular arms curled around me even before I laid back down and he pushed me down into the bed as I reached my destination. As my reward, his pretty lips pressed onto mine slowly, three times. My eyes closed, just feeling their beautiful warmth and love. A gush of burning desire for him flooded my body and made my toes curl.

With familiarity, he settled his head on my chest and laid there silently. The weight of his head was a comfort to me, hearing his resting breathing. My heart fluttered like a butterfly for him.

As he fell asleep again, I tried to follow him, but my brain became more awake in the dark no matter how hard I tried to go against it. Reality cast in along with the moonlight, and my eyes were open, seeing far and wide. As things dawned on me, the slower my heart beat. My breaths became few and far between.

The truth was, we weren't here on a vacation. The more my eyes opened, the more I could remember and the more I wished them to close. I wanted to go back to dreamland with Frankie, forget about all of this. But there was no escaping it.

We were hiding. I breathed deeply and remembered earlier today, how I had begged Frankie to take us some place where we couldn't be found. I had told him how unsafe I felt, told him how scared I was. He told me we would be alright, but I was sorry to realize I no longer believed him. So I had begged him to take us some place safe, grabbing his perfectly pressed button down shirt as a woman desperate.

So he'd taken me into his arms and told me we could hide in his yacht, just for a little bit. The only thing I could answer with was a question in my dumbfounded state.

"You have a yacht?"

Therefore, we had spent all day on the Hudson, living like rich people. It felt like a dream. This experience had made me see Frankie in a new light, seeing just how much money he had. It was like someone had struck me dumb, socked me in the face or something. Or maybe that had been the cold December wind.

He'd handed me a Coca Cola from the cooler even though we were freezing our asses off. Then he'd brought out a big goose down comforter from the sleeping cabin, and wrapped in that we were a couple of happy bunny rabbits. It was so cozy, just sitting there with him sipping our soda pops and watching the water, watching the city with our troubles so far away.

I had felt so much love for him, for he had granted my wish so easily. Get me away from here. Make me feel safe. He'd done it. He'd done it with flying colors. So I laid my head on his shoulder and he leaned his head on mine and I'd felt blissful, at peace.

But now in the sleeping cabin, tethered to a dock, I began to remember just what we were running away from and it terrified me again. But how dare I trouble this beautiful boy who had granted my wish. How dare I wake him when how peacefully he was sleeping so lovingly on my chest.

Instead, I rested my hand on his sweet dark blonde hair and and started to gather it gently in my fingers. It felt a little like golden retriever puppy fur if I closed my eyes. His breath was traveling through the thin cotton of my white nightgown, warming my skin to toast.

The gentle rocking sounds of water slapping the boat was like a cradle to our dreams.

I began to dream awake, staring out of the little windows at the foot of the bed. I could see the water as a dark ghost all around us, gently lapping up the reality of two worlds. A new desire began to form in my brain, telling me something so.

"Frankie," I whispered just barely.

"Mmm," he purred, not asleep yet, his eyes only closed.

"Let's go away," I said softly to him, my fingers still going through his hair in love.

"Mmm?"

"Let's go away."

"Okay."

"When?"

"Hmmm..." His eyes wandered open, landing on me. Pointed at me, they looked dark but still adoring. "We have some things to think about, my peach."

"We do."

He sighed, but not discontentedly, perhaps only in his own thinking, fully awake now. I felt his thin body twist in the blanket, making a folding sound in the linen of the comforter. It was enhanced in the quiet. His hot body pressed to mine, causing a rush of chill to go up my spine in adjustment to our combined heat.

"Before we can get married there are some things we must do. There are people who will give you new papers if you..." He paused, seeming unsure to go on.

My hand traveled over his muscular shoulders, gliding down his back. As my hand traveled, he let out a long silent breath, and I felt it go up my body like piano accompaniment. "You can say it, it's not a taboo," I whispered kindly to him. We'd talked about it before. It was nothing new. But, he was always so nervous about the subject. He was kind, because if I were sensitive to it I'd appreciate his tip-toeing, but it was okay.

"...They'll give you new papers if you...get surgeries," he said finally, hesitating, but saying what needed to be said.

"And how do I get these surgeries," I asked him, stroking his beautiful back in long sweeps.

He breathed long again, and I sensed more hesitation from him.

"Frankie. How do I get these surgeries?" I asked again, looking at his face now so close to mine. He wasn't looking at me. Something felt off, and I began to feel nervous despite my trust. Strange prickly feelings found their way to my heart, unwelcome. "...Frankie?" I repeated. My hands stopped on his back.

"I just..." he said quietly. He closed his eyes, then opened them and looked to the side.

"Baby, what..." I began, but couldn't figure out how to end the sentence.

"I..."

"Do you..."

"No, I..."

"Baby..." I began to prop myself up on my elbows, my heart sending me awful signals of burning feelings. Trying to burn my dreams. I wanted to shake my whole body to send them away. I stared at him. He'd separated from me when I had gotten up, staring down at the bed, the space between us. He wasn't saying anything. My mouth parted, wanting to say something but...

"I don't-" he began, but the feelings in my heart cut him off.

"Baby...do you not want me to get the surgeries?" I demanded, my eyebrows creasing in all of my confusion. What was he trying to say?

His eyes went wide and his face snapped to mine. A silent moment passed between us that gave me the worst feeling I've ever had in my life. It felt like how a leaf must feel when it's becoming brown and crinkly and dead and it can't do anything to save itself. The helplessness. My soul began to spiral, asking what I was doing. What was I doing in this boat?

"That's not at all what I mean!" he burst, his voice bouncing off the walls of the small dark cabin like fireworks into my ears. The falling leaves feeling fell down and swept away.

Oh Jesus Christ. Oh Jesus.

I began to breathe hard in the relief and the fright, my hand going over my racing heart.

"Don't scare me like that, Frankie," I demanded. His face paused in deep worry and sadness, guilt. He looked like a little boy suddenly. My hand caressed his face, and his cheek leaned into it lovingly. His sweet blue-green eyes closed. But, then my heart twisted into a pinwheel, for a single tear fell into my hand. "Frankie..." I whispered, my eyebrows creasing more, confused and frightened again.

"I'm just..." he choked, not opening his sweet eyes, "...just scared for you...is all... I want you to be happy...us to be happy... I'm just scared for you. What could happen to you? What if something goes wrong? What would I do without you? I don't know what to-"

"Baby...baby, baby..." I whispered to him interspersed with clicking of my tongue to try to calm him. My other hand cupped his face, drawing it to mine. Our lips pressed, and I kissed him hard and long. He kissed back, making a desperate sound in his crying within his throat. He sobbing into me, his sounds entering my mouth. I began to kiss his face, his cheeks, his nose, his forehead. My hands glided into his beautiful golden hair again. "Sweetie, how long have you been thinking about this?" I asked him gently, quietly, "why didn't you tell me about your worries? We could have talked about it. I want to talk to you about it."

"I don't... I don't know," he gasped out, choking on one of his little breaths.

"Oh, honey pie," I whispered to him, kissing his warm cheek again, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him close to me dearly. My lips began to search his hair, smelling his clean shampoo with the orange scent. It relaxed my lungs, my self.

"I promise you," he said, muffled into my chest.

"Hmm? What, baby?" I asked, easing my grip on him so he could right himself. He propped himself up on his strong arms, looking down at me. His long bangs framed his face, my favorite pose. My heart clenched itself, he looked so gorgeously handsome.

"I promise you," he repeated in earnest, his face desperate. "We will find the best surgeon. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise you."

Warm tears filled my eyes and his beautiful face descended and kissed me on my lips like a butterfly to a flower. My arms wrapped around his shoulders, and his lips fell down and down to my neck, kissing my favorite place behind my ear and I melted in such love as I had never felt before. Oh this love, this beautiful boy. This beautiful thing he had said to me. My heart was a bubble of curiosity and joy, hopeful confusion and gentle love. His protecting spirit enveloped and folded over it, like a morning glory closing with me inside it, making me feel so secure and safe. So cherished.

"I love you," I gasped, as his wet kisses traveled down my neck.

"I love you," he told me surely, never stopping in his passion for me.