"Lissa," Jean lightly shook her sister. "Lissa, we're..." She paused before looking out the window. "Here," She finished breathlessly as she looked out the window in amazement.

"Finally," Lissa said with a yawn, trying to wake up.

"Lissa," Jean softly said, hesitance in her tone.

"Jean," Lissa returned with her "don't" look before voicing everything she could no longer contain, tired of her comatose sister. "No regrets! And if you even think about thinking about him, I will," Lissa huffed, blinking as she realized how awful that sounded. "I will literally hunt his cowardly ass down and beat the living shit out of him, and if I go to jail, it'll be your fault." Lissa finished, getting angrier with each word.

"Lissa!" Jean said in shock, though a part of her brain was beginning to feel tired of being emotionally numb.

"Young lady!" The old woman sitting behind them cried at the same time as Jean, but more appalled. "Manners and decency, is the least you can do if you are going to interrupt our lives with your useless chatter."

Lissa whirled around to look behind her at the woman in shock, the audacity of the woman, crying about manners and decency when she was the one eavesdropping on them! "Oh please, I just left my mother back in the states. And the bastard-"

"Lissa, people are staring." Jean whispered.

"Oh please, let them stare, it's not like as if I'll ever see any of them again." Lissa rolled her eyes. "Why does everyone care about what others think? What does it matter?" Lissa muttered as she eyed the older woman who had wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"It's our lives." Lissa sighed, shaking her head when Jean actually mouthed sorry at everyone around them.

Getting off the plane at last, Lissa stretched her limbs just as Jean softly said she was going to the bathroom. Merely nodding, the brunette gestured for Jean's bag.

Carrying both her purse and Jean's, Lissa wandered the small convenience store across from the restrooms. However as her eyes drifted across the refrigerated drinks, her thirst kicked in. Seeing a plain diet coke, Lissa reached for the drink the same time another hand did so. This hand though was masculine with fine blonde hairs, and just calloused enough to indicate that he was not soft bred,  nor overly so making him not a man of manual labor.

"Oh I'm sorry," The man apologized upon taking a look at the female whose hand was lightly on his. A charming smile automatically took its place on his lips.

Jean closed the door of her stall before going to the sink to wash her hands. Lathering soap on her hands, Jean began to gently rub the soap across her skin. Her actions paused as she gently felt her ringless left hand. All she could do was stare down at the hand with a very slight tan visible because of the whiter band that encircled the fourth digit, while hot water cascaded on her overall pale hand.

~

"I have my last final tomorrow Chase!" Jean said, a slight worry in her voice, though a part of her laughing as the action was so Chase. He had come into her apartment out of nowhere and presented a blindfold, telling her that she was more than prepared before whisking her off to god knows where.

"Yes and like I said before, you are awfully prepared. You make the rest of us look like a bunch of grade school children! Now relax, we're almost there."

"Almost where?" Jean implored, slightly biting down on her bottom lip, as she hesitantly followed Chase, literally blind.

"It's a surprise!" The red head grinned, lightly pulling on her hand.

"I know, but I-"

Her words left her though as Chase finally pulled the blind fold off her. Surrounding them were a bunch of small lights, the only illumination in the whole room. "The planetarium?" She asked glancing around, her blue jean eyes glancing up before a soft smile graced her lips as she saw her favorite, the constellation Cassiopeia just above them. As a pair of hands grasped her hands, she looked down. Her blue eyes widened in shock as her boyfriend was on one knee in front of her. Her lips lightly parted but before she could utter a word, Chase gulped, his eyes searching hers for any sign of rejection but there was none, just all shock. A small laugh on the tip of his tongue, Chase grinned.

"Jean Bennet, when I met you here the first time, I remember seeing this beautiful blonde so enraptured in the stars and wishing that she could just look my way, with even half the interest she was giving the stars. I was so stupefied that I began to walk her way, despite the fact that I did not know a thing about her except that she most likely loved stars."

Jean gulped, her lashes fluttering in embarrassment.

"Then as I stood before her, these gorgeous hazel eyes that could put the most beautiful forest to shame looked at me. And I knew that I was an absolute goner. Because I could see the rest of my life flash by in those eyes."

"Chase?" Jean asked in uncertainty, as she was now very positive she knew where this was going, her shock slowly wearing off that she could properly voice her thoughts.

"Jean Bennet, will you marry me?" Chase finally asked, presenting a diamond ring. It was gold engraved, princess cut diamond, how many carats though, she didn't have a clue and was positive she didn't want to know. Not when her boyfriend had driven them there in his silver Lamborghini or that he actually owned Armani silk pajama bottoms.

Jean's lips parted even more so, but nothing came out. She closed her eyes, trying to formulate the right words.

"I know we haven't even hit the one year mark, but I also already know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So why wait when we have so little time in this world? If I could spend a century with you, it would still not be enough."

Jean's hand flew to her mouth. Chase's words were almost too much but all at once Jean knew why. Chase's parents had been ripped from him at such a young age, that he lived with a mentality of always living life to the fullest and never being afraid to take chances. It was honestly one of Jean's favorite parts of him. She was just always so focused on the future and being the daughter her mother wanted that sometimes Jean forgot to live for herself and enjoy the things in life that were not of the mundane. But with Chase, he never let her just be there, he always pushed her to try something different when the opportunity presented itself. Never to shy away in fear of what others would think.

Glancing down at Chase once more, Jean's eyes flashed with worry as she saw Chase's demeanor falter. His enthusiasm was visibly leaving him.

At last Jean blurted out the three letter word, and like that the light in his green eyes were back.

"Are you sure?" He asked though for good measure as he stood up, gulping after his question.

Jean lightly laughed, as she nodded.

A giant smile in place, Chase lifted her off her feet spinning them amongst the stars.

~

Splashing her face, Jean tried to wipe the memory away before turning off the water, already feeling the slightest bit of guilt over wasting all that water. She could almost see her sister glance at her in disbelief if she could only hear Jean's thoughts. "You're going to be okay Jean Bennet. His words might have been beautiful but now you're in a country even more beautiful than a Shakespearean sonnet. Forget him..." She whispered with one last glance at her paler than normal reflection and at her eyes that were still rimmed with the faintest of red.

Lissa waited in line behind the blonde man who had graciously let her take the drink. Complimenting her with useless words like beautiful. She worked in a café, those words were a dime a dozen among the types that occupied the café.

"Just this," Lissa said as she placed her soda on the counter, getting her wallet out.

"Already paid for miss," the cashier smiled at her.

Lissa gave the young woman a look of bewilderment.

The cashier only smiled wider as she tipped her head the direction the blonde man was, opening his own bottle.

Lissa raised a brow, sharing one last look with the giddy cashier who was fawning over the gesture before shaking her head and walking the few steps to the male that was either obviously slyer or sweeter than she had initially gave him credit for. "Thank you," She just settled with though, knowing she shouldn't judge someone so quickly.

"It was my pleasure, though I do wanna ask if I could one day buy you more than just a soda?" He looked down at her.

Lissa glanced down at her diet coke, her hand tightening slightly. "I really am flattered, but," Lissa glanced back at him. "I've made it my thing to not date men with british accents."

"British accents?" He asked, his brows raising in shock, this being a first for him. Almost all women were quite the opposite, in fact he could wager a few women he'd met had solely fallen because of his accent.

"Yes,"

"May I implore why?" He just had to ask.

Lissa let out a laugh, implore... that was enough of a reason in her mind. "You may but I rather not say."

This time the man chuckled. "Can I at least ask when this development occurred?"

Lissa made a slight face. "Very recently actually but-" she didn't finish though as she saw Jean looking around worriedly for her. "Ah, sorry but I must go now. Jean!" She yelled out, catching her sister's attention.

Jean looked to the direction her sister's voice came from. She saw Lissa right away but then couldn't help but glance at the man standing in a rather close proximity to her sister, the two turned to each other. They must've been just conversing.

"Hey, let's go!" Lissa said almost jogging towards her and grabbing her to head towards baggage claim.

"Who was that?" Jean couldn't help but ask.

"Who?" Lissa asked innocently.

"Lissa, you know who!" Jean shook her head.

"Just some guy." Lissa shrugged.

"He looked a lot more than just-" Jean began to protest.

"His name is Gage Wickens and I'm sure he tried to ask me out, but I rejected him so I doubt we'll ever see him again." Lissa pulled Jean, making her walk even faster. "Come on, Italy is waiting for us." She said gently squeezing her sister's arm, a smile in place, happy that at last her sister was with her. Even if it was the result of something she wished had never happened, she would make sure that their time in Italy was as wonderful as they dreamed of when they were little.

~~~