"Do you want to go for a walk in the park, Lisa said I had to take someone with me?" Rachel asked me from my doorway. I looked up at her from my maths homework and smiled. "Anything to get away from maths," I said grabbing my hoodie. She smiled. "Let's go." She said. We jogged downstairs, and into the kitchen, where Lisa was sitting, reading a magazine. "Mom, Carson and I are going to the park." She said and grabbed a peach. "Oh okay, honey, enjoy." she said and smiled. I smiled and caught another peach that Rachel had tossed to me. "Thanks," I said to her and we walked out of the kitchen.

"So, what is your favourite fruit?" I asked Rachel as we ate our peaches. She sighed. "Hmm, I've loved mango and watermelon all my life, but recently I've been more drawn toward the peaches and oranges." She said. I laughed and nodded. "I'm a mango fan too, but my favourite fruit is definitely the raspberries." I said with a smile. She looked at me. "What about their favourite cousin the strawberry?" she asked. I shook my head. "No, I'm allergic to strawberries." I said, taking a bite out of my peach. "Oh," she nodded.

We made it to the park. I looked around for Leila, just in case I saw her. I always looked out for her every time I came here. "Who are you looking for?" Rachel asked me. I was quite startled at Rachel's voice, I almost forgot about her. "Oh, just a mother I met here a few weeks ago." I said. She smiled. "Okay," she said. We walked for a while, until we both laid eyes on the huge oak tree far off from the benches. "Race you to the old oak," I said and started running. I chuckled, knowing I was going to win, but that soon came to an end when I got to the oak and realized Rachel hadn't even started running.

I looked at her confused. She was walking with her hands covered with her windbreaker's sleeves. When she got to the tree, she smiled and walked toward the tree. "Why didn't you run?" I asked her. She smiled, but it faltered. "I can't run, I have an ankle problem," she said sadly and then started climbing the tree. My mouth hung open as I looked down at the ground. When I looked back up, she was sitting on a thick branch near the top of the tree. I sighed and started climbing. Once I reached her, I sat next to her and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know." she looked at me and smiled. "I'm fine, it's fine." she said. "Thanks, but what happened anyway?" I asked. She was looking down at the playground, which I soon noticed was a really beautiful view.

"Oh, I fell down a fleet of stairs and broke it. The doctors said that because it was so badly damaged, I could never run again, or not fast anyway. I can jog, just not run, if you know what I mean?" she said, looking at me. I smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean." I said, my eyes staring into hers. She smiled then broke the eye contact. I frowned a little, but quickly covered it up with a smirk. "I've broken many bones before, like a dozen." I said. She looked at me and smiled. "Yeah?" she asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I broke my leg, my arm, I fractured my rib and also broke my hand, can't remember the rest." I said then laughed. She laughed as well then looked at me.

"Were they all accidents?" she asked. I sighed then swallowed hard. "Uh no, they weren't accidents," I said and looked at her. She looked at me with such innocence I was scared that if I even touched her, she'd be contaminated. "Um, my father broke and fractured the bones I mentioned, thought I'd try to be honest from now on." I said, trying to laugh to lessen the tension, but it died before if could even become a proper laugh. I felt Rachel's hand touch mine, before she squeezed it. I looked at our hands and felt something inside of me build up. I'm not sure of what it was, but it felt good. I looked at her. She was already looking at me. "I'm sorry about your father," she said softly. I felt my eyes burning with the urge to free the captive tears, but I tried to hold it in. I gave her a broken smile, but something inside of me tore through that and spoke words that I dreaded.

Don't be afraid, open up...

I remained looking at her as the tears gathered in my eyes, but I didn't dare let them fall. Her smile faded and a sad frown replaced it. I tried to smile, but it faltered. I looked away as my bottom lip started quivering. "Um," I said. "I'm sorry," I said, chuckling and sniffing at the same time. Her hand was still holding onto mine, and I was now gripping onto hers. It was the only thing to help me keep my balance. "Carson, you're hurting, it's natural what's happening to you." she said. "You need to grieve, you need to cry, you need to let it all out." she moved closer to me, our shoulders pressed against each other. I nodded, sniffing again, but the quiver in my lip seemed to spread so that my entire face was quivering until I let the tears fall. There were only a few and I didn't sob; I wasn't crying - I was grieving.

Rachel's hand made its way to my back and rubbed upward and downward slowly, making different patterns with her fingers. I wiped away the tears and turned to her with a smile. "I'm fine, I am," I said to her. She smiled. "You're a good person, Carson." She said. I gave her a small smile and shrugged. "I don't feel like one," I said. She laughed softly. "Not all heroes wear caps, not all angels have wings and not all warriors wear armour." She said. "But wounds heal, and so will you." I looked at her and smiled. I felt compelled to kiss her for what she just said to me, it meant a lot, but I knew I couldn't. It wouldn't be right. Therefore, I just smiled and thanked her.

"We better get back home," she said and looked through the leaves and branches at the grey sky. "And I don't like the look of those clouds, Carson," I looked up and nodded. "Yeah, me neither, let's go." I said and started climbing down. As I sat up, I felt raindrops land on my shoulders. "We need to hurry," I said as the wind picked up. I saw her nod and I climbed down. Once my feet hit the ground, I looked up and saw Rachel trying to climb down, but the wind was getting wilder. "Rachel, Rachel," I yelled at her. She looked at me. "Be careful, let me help you!" I said. She nodded and placed her foot on one branch while grabbing another. Soon enough, I had her in my arms, for she slipped, like I thought she might.

I put her down and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we need to get home." I yelled, pulling her closer to me, an instinct of protection kicking in. It was raining cats and dogs on the way home from the park and Rachel and I were getting soaked from head to toe. "Uh, Carson, is there a shelter around here somewhere, just until the weather gets better?" She asked, walking closer to me. It started to get misty and foggy around us and we were struggling to see. "Just stick close, I don't want to loose you." I said, placing my hand in the small of her back. She immediately held on to my hand tightly. There were cars in the streets that were providing some light, but not much.

"Hold on, we're going to cross the road." I said and slid my one arm around her waist. She wrapped her arm around my waist and brought her head closer to my shoulder for safety. I smiled at her actions. She looked like a scared little mouse. I lifted my hand to shelter my eyes from the violent winds, trying to see through the thick fog. "I can't see anything." I said loudly so Rachel could hear me. "Me neither." She said just as loud as she clung to me. I looked a bit further and saw a lamppost; it was pretty bright, and the same lamppost as the one on their street.

"Hey, isn't that the same lamppost that's on the corner of your street?" I asked her. She looked up and laughed. "Yeh, yeh it is!" she was jumping with joy, until we heard a car's horn. We turned around and saw a car coming. Okay, so I guess we were still standing in the middle of the road, no biggie. "Move!" I yelled and pulled Rachel with me on to the sidewalk. "Watch where you walk, kids!" the driver yelled at us while driving away. "Go suck a truck!" I yelled back at him. I still had Rachel in my arms as she clung onto me tightly. "You alright, Clover?" I asked her, stroking her hair. I felt her nod into my chest and I smiled. "Let's go then." I said and made our way toward her house.

"Mom," Rachel called out as we burst into the house, breathing heavily due to fighting against the wind, rain and fog. We were both sopping wet, literally. Think of jumping into a pool, getting out and jumping into the sea, then getting out and jumping into the pool again; that's how wet we were. I saw Lisa run down stairs and to us. "Thank you, God." she said hugging us. "Lisa, you're going to get wet!" I said alarmed. "I don't care, you guys are home safe and that's all I care about." She said letting us go and running to the kitchen. She came back with two warm, cream towels. "Thank you." I said and started drying myself off. "Pleasure, my son," She said.

"Yeah, thanks for the towels, mom." Rachel said. I gave them a small smile and walked to the kitchen. I grabbed a mug out of the cupboard and filled it with water and downed it almost immediately. "You okay?, I thought you'd go for hot chocolate after what we just went through." Rachel asked me as she walked into the kitchen and also grabbed mug out of the cupboard. "Yeah, I just needed something refreshing for a mo." I said, putting the mug onto the counter. "Hey, mo is my word!" she laughed. "I guess I stole it from you, then." I smirked. She scowled at me. 

She reached for the top shelf to get the hot chocolate, but she couldn't reach it. It was kind of high. She was struggling, so I decided to help. "Do you need help with that?" I asked her. She stopped and looked at me, then smiled. "Yes, please." She said and stepped aside. "Wait, hold up! If I'm going to help, we're going to do it my way. Come here." I said and held out my hands. "Okay, what are you doing?" she asked me as I positioned her in front of me. "You'll see. Stay still, don't struggle and don't try and get down." I told her and held her waist. "Get down?" she asked, but I had already bent down, stuck my head in between her legs and stood up carefully, so that she was sitting on my shoulders. She screamed and held on to my head. "No, get me down! I'm going to fall!" she screamed. "No, first get the hot chocolate." I told her and held her thighs tightly. She sighed.

We heard laughter coming from the door. I, and by that I mean we, turned around to see Lisa, Kyle and Luke. "You guys help me!" Rachel screamed. Kyle started laughing, along with Luke, and Lisa shook her head. "Get the hot chocolate, my dear." She said. I nodded in gratefulness. She smiled. "Mom," Rachel exclaimed in betrayal. "Come on, it's not that far." Kyle teased. Everyone was laughing. "Oh spite you, Kyle! You're the one who put the hot chocolate up there when you knew very well that I'm the shortest in the family!" she started scolding. Kyle gave her a cheeky grin. "Love you, sis." He teased. "No, I'm the shortest!" Luke yelled out, making everyone laugh. "Yes, I'm afraid you are right." Lisa said, messing with his hair.

"Is it just me, or do you seem so comfortable up there that you just can't bring yourself to get the hot chocolate?" I asked sarcastically, half teasing her. She huffed. "Not in a million years." She said. "Yeah well, it may as well be a million years with the time you're taking up there." I said back. I'm great at comebacks, no modesty there. "Oh blow!" she huffed again and reached for the cupboard. Once she grasped it, I quickly pushed her up and over my head and let go of her, only to catch her when she fell. That's so cliché. She jumped out of my arms and started slapping me. I laughed and ran away, Lisa, Kyle and Luke getting out of my way respectfully. I'm so glad that I've healed over the past few weeks, otherwise that would've hurt so badly.

She chased me around the living room and up the stairs. I ran into her room, since it was closer to the staircase, and hid behind the door. The door flung open. Luckily I stopped it with my hand; unfortunately, I couldn't stop the gasp that came out of my mouth. She saw me and jumped on to me with a great "AHA!".  She tackled me, but I had the upper hand by being twice her size and stronger. I picked her up, turned her upside down, hanging her over my shoulder, and strolled out of the room, down the stairs and back into the living room; where Lisa, Kyle and Luke were cracking up at the sight of an upside down Rachel. I dumped her on the couch and sat on her.

"Carson, you're squishing me, you weigh like a hundred pounds!" She groaned. "Yeah, a hundred pounds of muscle, baby." I complemented, flexing my arm muscles. She rolled her eyes and gave up struggling underneath me, defeated. "I'm home!" Samuel called out as he walked through into the living room. He looked at all of us then asked. "Where's Rachel?" she was hidden by the cushions so he couldn't see her, but she just had to ruin it. "I'm here!" she exclaimed, lifting her free arm into the air. His eyes widened and he rushed over to the other side of the couch. When he saw her, I could see he was trying hard to hold back laughter. "Don't. You. Dare." She threatened. He was going red in the face. He looked at Lisa and then to me and burst into laughter, along with the rest of the family, including me. She rolled her eyes then closed her eyes and started breathing deeply. "Idiots." She mumbled.

~&~

When I finally got to go upstairs to change out of my wet clothes, I had shivers running right through my body. The minute I entered, I stripped my shirt off of my body and opened my drawer, looking for a clean one for after my shower. I was looking through the remaining shirts and underwear, until I picked out a dark blue shirt and a pair of boxers. I turned around and saw Rachel standing at my doorway. We both jumped at the sight of each other. I crossed my arms over my chest, in an attempt to hide the scars. "I'm so sorry, I walked pasted to get something in my father's study and I saw your door and thought..." she tried to explain, but I cut her off. "It's okay." I said uneasily. She looked shaken up and full of regret. "I'm still so sorry, Carson, but I was just so curious of your, um, you know," she said, gesturing to the scars on my skin.

I nodded and smiled. "I understand, I would be curious too." I said. She smiled, a little relieved, but she was still tense. I chuckled and looked down at my crossed arms. I sighed and looked back at her. "I'm going to shower, I'll see you around." I said, walking toward her. She nodded and smiled. "Sorry again," she said. I laughed. "It's okay, really. I'll see you later." I said. She nodded and walked away. I smiled and closed the door. No matter how close we would become, I would never let her see my scars. I remember Mrs Peters explaining how these scars will be here for the rest of my life. I would either never show my wife one way or I wouldn't marry. I grabbed my towel and clothes and walked into the bathroom.

No one could love someone with this many battle scars...