My heart beats wildly, my breaths erratic.

My hands tremble at my sides as I force myself to take a deep, calming breath.

It doesn't work. Not at all.

Slowly, I lift a shaking hand in the air, curling it into a fist, and hold it there, inches away from his door...

"Well shit, Maddie," Aiden spoke up once we were alone, seeing that I was visibly upset. "I was only messing with you earlier...Okay, okay, I might have been trying to ruffle some feathers too. But it was only in fun. I can't let him have you that easy," he finished.

I kept my head down, staring at my hands. "I...I just..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say really. How could I make things right? How could I tell him how I was feeling without hurting him?

"Hey. Hey," he said, lifting my chin, forcing me to look up and into his eyes. "I get it Maddie. You've been honest with me. I know how you feel about him. And I'm man enough to back off where I'm not wanted."

"It's not that I don't care about you," I finally said.

He nodded, taking his bottom lip between his teeth. "I know."

"And I do love you. And Alex too. And everything you guys did for me, all that time we ran together? It means the world to me."

He cleared his throat. "Me too, Maddie. This doesn't change any of that. We're still here for you. I'm still here for you, for anything. Okay?"

I nodded, "Thank you."

"Now go," he quickly said, standing from his spot on the couch beside me. "We both know what you want to do." And then he walked away, joining Alex in her room, leaving me to stare down the hall at the door Travis had disappeared through earlier.

...It's not just what I want to do, it's what I desperately need to do.

That doesn't make this any easier though.

I swallow thickly and close my eyes, trying to muster up the courage for everything I need to tell him.

All of it.

A throat clears down the hall, and I open my eyes to find Sanders watching me, an amused smile stretched across his face.

"What the hell you waiting for girl? Go!" he whisper-yells, waving me towards the door with his hands.

I nod, pulling my focus back to the door.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

I can do this.

And I knock softly against the wood, finally closing the distance between my shaking fist and Travis's door.

"Come in," he says.

I twist the knob and enter his room, closing the door quietly behind me. Originally, I had planned to come right on out with it, but the words get stuck in my throat when I spot Travis on the bed. He's shirtless, the small lantern beside him casting a light glow across his torso, across every muscle, and each tattoo drawn on his skin.

"Everything okay?" he asks, breaking my stare, and my cheeks immediately flame.

Wringing my hands in front of me, I nod quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I just— earlier... when you said we could talk later? Can we— I mean, I was hoping it would be okay to finish that conversation now. There's so much I need to say, so much I want to tell you and I don't..." I'm pacing now, treading a path back and forth across the room. "I can't wait. There's no way I could lay down and fall asleep knowing you're right down the hall. And I mean, it's crazy right? This is crazy. You're here. And I'm here, and it's been so long." I ramble on nervously.

Travis laughs, "Maddie, relax. It's fine. I'm glad you're here."

I stop pacing across the floor and let out a sigh of relief. One that causes Travis's lips to curve into a smile, and I watch as he tries to hide it behind his fist.

"Okay, good. That's good." I nod. "See, I wasn't even sure you'd want me to come in here and bother you, but—"

"You're not bothering me Maddie. I'd have gone maybe another five minutes before coming and getting you myself," he says quietly.

Oh.

His green eyes bore into mine from across the room. "Come here," he finally says.

And I almost do. But, "Wait. I have some things I really need to say," I reply instead.

He crosses his arms and leans back onto his pillow. "Go on," he says with a smirk.

I push against my nerves, my hands still shaking. "Okay," I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. Just do it. But the way he's looking at me makes me feel so damn nervous. "Maybe you could stop looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" he asks on a soft chuckle.

"You know what you're doing, don't you?"

"No idea," and he continues to smile at me.

I shake my head, trying not to smile back at him. "Never mind. Just... I don't even know where to start. Maybe you could just listen? Let me finish, and then say something? If you want, I mean."

He nods, his expression turning slightly more serious. "I'm listening."

My feet seem to have a mind of their own, resuming their path back and forth across the room. "First," I take a deep breath and release it slowly, "I want to say that I'm sorry."

"Maddie," Travis shakes his head.

"No. No, you deserve to hear that. Because I am. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, because I should have trusted you. I know you better than that, and I know you'd never hurt me. I was just so confused. You showed up out of nowhere and I was so happy to see you, but then everyone else was there too and you didn't do anything to stop them. I didn't know what to think, other than the fact that you were there, dressed just like them, helping them take us in.

"But even then, I feel like I still should have known. I should have connected the dots sooner and trusted that you had a plan. I wish, not just for my sake but for yours, that I would have put that together quicker.

"And then I was at the compound and I kind of knew you were there for me, but I didn't get why...and then there was 'Hot Doctor' and that...whole thing, which made me question everything all over again. And you don't even have to explain that, because it's none of my business really.

"I just, embarrassingly enough, over time had come to think that maybe you had always liked me too, the way that I've always liked you, because I had a lot of time to think you know, being out there," I wave an arm around the room as I continue to pace, "and I spent a lot of that time thinking back on things, on us, and what all of it might have meant. And if there's one thing I know now for sure, it's that you've always known how I felt."

I stop, looking down at the ground, deciding how to word this next part. Leaning my back against the wall, I look up at Travis, and he's watching me, waiting.

"I just," I take a deep breath again, "wanted to say I'm sorry for not trusting you sooner and mostly, thank you. Thank you for saving me and thank you for being here, with me."

He stares at me intently, swallowing hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He's still waiting, waiting for me to finish because he knows I'm not done yet.

It's quiet for just a few moments longer before I continue, "I keep thinking...it means something that you're here, right? I mean, everything you've done for me and everything you've given up? You wouldn't have done all of this if you didn't feel something for me... But then Danielle kissed you, and it didn't even occur to me until then that maybe you two..."

He shakes his head firmly, immediately shutting down that thought.

Thank God, and I know he can see the relief on my face.

"Travis," I push off the wall, taking a step closer to him. "I love you. I'm in love with you."

He sits up straighter, smiling, biting his lip to hold himself back from saying something.

"I always have been." I shrug my shoulders. "That never went away," I end quietly, breaking eye contact with him.

He clears his throat. "Come here Maddie."

"Listen, you don't have to...I mean, I understand if it's not like that for you, I just had to tell you."

"Maddie."

I look up at him, my breath catching at the way he's looking at me, the unspoken emotion swirling behind his eyes.

He loves me too.

I see it in the curve of his smile, in the depth of adoration coloring his features, in the way he leans towards me, his body silently begging me to come closer.

***Author's Note***

There's more!

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<3 Kara Michelle