Of course I had left the reception a couple hours before it was scheduled to end. Jem was dropped off here, much to his disappointment, because it was just me here with him.

"I'm sorry from taking you from Sarah tonight," I said to Jem as he was undressing from his tie and coat.

"It's fine. I still had a good time," he assured with a light smile. "But why did we leave early?"

"So the parents can have fun without us kids," I said. It was true and it was a good thing because I had been lying through my teeth until now.

"Well maybe we should have a kid party without adults," he laughed. I forced a chuckle or two.

"Sure, maybe one day," I joked and then rolled off his door frame to enter mine.

My phone started ringing and it was surprisingly Cheyenne.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Chickadee! Where are you?" she asked and I heard loud, rap music. She wasn't at the reception...

"Where are you?" I countered.

"At Dastan and Mateo's party with Kylie," she shouted. "She really knows how to party—"

"Party? Dastan and Mateo never host parties," I said. I'd bet that most people didn't even know they were siblings before tonight.

"Exactly! So why aren't you here?" she yelled over the music. Why would Dastan be having a party? Especially since he was supposed to be at the wedding reception...

"Are they there?" I asked, suddenly. I'd heard about enough parties that didn't even have hosts that lived there.

"I don't know. Maybe," she answered. Ugh. "There are a lot of people here..."

"I'll be there in a—"

"Don't you dare come here," Kylie's voice said as clear as day.

"Why are you even there?" I asked.

"Sebastian wanted me to check out the Vegas' place—since apparently it's uncommon that they have guests, but I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary," she answered with a sigh.

"I guess I can go and—"

"No, don't."  She wasn't the only one who said that. I looked over my shoulder and saw the Proliator stepping through my window. I immediately hung up the phone and threw it onto my bed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, some sort of fury in my voice. "Answer me. Why are you here and why did you send that stupid video saying that you're quitting?"

He gave me a strong look as I still stammered out questions like "what happened?" and "why" to this and that. He suddenly flashed over to me and pulled me into him.

"For you. That was all for you," he whispered, captivating me with his golden eyes before leaning down to press his lips to mine. A wave of emotions shocked between us, making a single touch from before seem like nothing. I kissed him back with more passion that I had in my body towards anyone before.

When I thought of him as some part of Hayden's plan, I knew now that I was wrong because from that kiss, he shared his emotions; they read nothing but of passion, honestly, and...love. And his powers came in the form of a curse when my emotions were mocking his and being fed to him, making me feel embarrassed.

His lips slid past mine like rubbing silks. When he slipped his tongue into my mouth, I was surprised he didn't directly dominate to mine. He wrestled with me and it made me chuckle slightly and smile in the kiss before he showed his true strength.

My hands had snaked up to his neck and when I moved them up to run them through his hair, I paused because I only felt the rubber of his mask. Suddenly, his arms tightened around my waist—too tight if you asked me—and then he lifted me up easily in order for him to sit on my bed and have me on his lap. My hands were clasped behind his neck, but they wanted to release and pull off his mask. But I restrained myself.

I pulled away for as short as possible, only to catch my breath, but it was so quick that I didn't even have time to open my eyes. Our lips collided once more, releasing just as much excitement as before with a pinch more of lust. His hands glided across my waist, ruffling the fabric of my dress. His hands trailed up to the middle of my back and I felt his fingers at the clasp of my zipper. At this point, I didn't care because although we were close, my body wanted him closer. As his fingers played with the clasp, mine played with the ends of his mask. Suddenly, he pulled away and his lips hovered a millimeter from mine.

"Take it off," he whispered out of breath. Immediately, my hands flew back to my dress as I pressed my lips against his, but then his hands clamped over mine and he pulled away from the kiss. "Not that..."

"Then what...?" I asked, opening my eyes. His eyes were still closed and his lips were slightly parted. He leaned his forehead on mine and sighed.

"My mask," he whispered. Even though I wanted to remove it and reveal who he really was, I knew he didn't want that. That's why I pressed my lips against his and my hands moved to his shoulders. His confused eyes suddenly fluttered open, revealing eyes of forest green that he had described from his "normal" life. They were gorgeous and I understood why he missed them.

"I don't care who you are," I whispered. I knew it sounded like some naïve girl especially because of all the trouble caused by not knowing who he was, but I also knew I loved him...meaning I knew that I didn't care who he was because it didn't matter who he was because the feelings he emitted assured me that he wouldn't hurt me in any way. Maybe knowing who he was would cause more problems.

"You need to know," he muttered, making me realize that his accent was gone and his voice was hushed.

"No I don't," I denied. Abruptly, he placed his hands on my waist and placed me on the bed. However, he stood up in front of me.  

"I'm not coming back. Do you understand that?" he hissed. I took a deep breath in. "I retired from this job, remember? For you. So I want you to know who I am so we can be together outside of all of this."

"You just said you're moving."

He nearly growled at that.

"Call me selfish or not, but I'd rather have a normal, long distance relationship with you than not one at all," he commented. He groaned of stress again. He suddenly kneeled in front of me and put his hands on my knees. "Just take the mask off."

"But I don't—"

 "I already said all that I did on television for you, so just please take off my mask. If you're worried that it'll cause more drama than it's worth, then tell me what else--"

I grabbed his face and pulled it to mine. I kissed him softly and briefly.

"I can't," I quoted him, but then he sealed our lips once more and ran a tongue across my bottom lip. He gripped me in a way that sparked touches at my waist and kissed me in a way you wouldn't think that would be possible because he was so frustrated with me right now. I was so lost in it that I didn't notice him reach a hand up to his face and peel his mask off. I shut my eyes even more and kissed him back rougher than before, even though he started to back off.

We both froze when there was a quick knock on my door.

"Angela?" I heard Jem's tired voice ask on the other side of my closed door.

Before I could even look over to Proliator, he kissed me once more, automatically telling me to close my eyes and temporarily forget about my brother at the door.

"I love you, Angela," he suddenly whispered against my lips. My mouth opened and closed with my eyes slightly closed, not knowing how to respond, even though I knew that I loved him and knew whose voice that was. I was just shocked that he finally said my name; the six-letter word rolling off his perfect lips was everything to my ears. Before I could respond to him with his much returned adoration, he flashed away before I could see anything but his mess of dark hair.

"Angela?" Jem croaked once more as I shuffled around to throw on some pajamas and make it look like I was about to fall asleep, instead of make out with the sexiest superhero to step foot in my room—Oh my gosh; I did not just say that... "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, come in," I said once I was positioned in bed. He slowly opened the door and then sat on my bed. "What's up?"

"I can't sleep," he pouted.

"Why's that?" I asked, scooting over and letting him share my bed. He happily climbed in for the first time in a long while.

"I'm just...scared of what will happen now that the Proliator isn't out there," he confessed. I gulped.

"I'm sure he's still here somewhere," I said, but wanted to face palm as soon as I said it. I was going to give away everything. "Like he said on the video."

"But he's not!" Jem said. "He's probably halfway around the world, already caring about some other people instead of us."

"Jem, that's selfish," I commented.

"Whatever," he sighed and then turned to shift into a sleeping position.

A surge of guilt plunged through my heart, only because it was now that I realized I was being selfish with the Proliator. He was New York's superhero...not some conqueror of my heart. Confining him to some normal life meant that I was sacrificing millions of peoples' safety. I couldn't do that. Especially not with my little brother crying about how unsafe he feels as a void to his favorite superhero's absence. That was all my fault. I couldn't let his retirement happen.

"Hey, Jem?" I asked in a whisper as his back faced me and he was prepared for slumber.

"What?" he nearly spat in anger or annoyance.

"Where did you say Dastan lived, again?"