DURING dinner there was a lot of talking and catching up for everyone. You had told Ignis all about Altissia and the people that you got to meet there. This also included you working with Weskham at the Maagho restaurant. This seemed to really interest him since you learned several new receipts.

You told him that you would share a few with him while working in the kitchen with him. This made both of you excited since you hadn't actually worked in the same kitchen with each other yet. Each time you had cooked, he had either been watching or doing something else. This would be the first time that you had a chance to share the kitchen with him. You started to get nervous and excited at the same time as to how this was going to work.

While talking with Ignis, you kept glancing at your dad and noticed that he seemed to be enjoying himself for the first time in a long time. He was actually smiling again as he talked to King Regis, Clarus, and Korn. You smiled at him when he glanced your way. He smiled back then went back to talking again.

You looked over at Monica and Gladio as they talked to Noctis and Gina when she come in for something about Talcott. You wanted to ask Monica more about Talcott, but you figured that you would wait until you were away from the adults. You didn't want to upset anyone, and right now that seemed to be what it did. Which slightly bothered you that they would be upset. But then again it did kind of make sense since they were still in high school. They were seniors, but still.

Once dinner was over, Monica, Gladio, Talcott, Clarus, and even Korn all decided to head home. Ignis had been allow to crash in Noctis' room for the night. This was fine by you since you wanted to talk to just them anyway. There were about a million questions that you had now for both of them. Especially after seeing how much everything had changed since you left for Altissia.

But first, you wanted to see how Marge and the kitchen staff were doing. So once everyone was done with desert, you helped gather up the dirty dishes and carried them into the kitchen so that you could help cleanup. But what you had intended wasn't exactly what happened.

For the instant that you walked into the kitchen, all you heard was cheers and tears from Marge as she came running from the back of the kitchen to give you a huge hug. All you had time for was Ignis grabbing the dirty dishes from you before you were engulfed in Marge's arms as she weep tears of joy that you had finally come home after all that time.

You hugged her back as you watched Ignis walk away as he carried the dirty dishes to the dish area. He smiled at you as you felt like you were being smothered by Marge's excited grip. But you returned the same grip because you had truly missed her and Jim. Even though your heart ached that you weren't hugging both of them. For you never got to see or talk to them after you left. In fact you hadn't talked to anyone except Ignis over the last three years.

Now Ignis did a good job as far as keeping you up to date with most events. But it was understood that somethings he just couldn't talk about. One of them being Gladio and Monica. Plus how do you describe a Prince starting to step into his own.

"Let me look at you dear." Marge said through her tears.

She held out your arms as a means of looking at your dress and shoes.

"You look absolutely radiant darling. It's hard to believe that your the same young lady that use to get so flustered with Korn's dinner requests." She said as she brought your hands in front of you. "You have turned into a beautiful young woman."

"Thank you very much." You quietly said as you bowed your head.

"I can see that Ignis is going to have to keep a close eye on you." Marge said as Ignis walked back into the room after dropping off the dishes.

"And why does everyone keep saying that?" You asked as you looked back at her.

"Because my love," Ignis started to say and as he stepped up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. "in case you haven't noticed. You have started to attract a bit of attention."

"I don't see how." You said as you placed your hands on his. "You're far more attractive than I am."

"Ahh. There's that flattery that I missed." Ignis said then kissed you on the cheek. "But don't cut yourself short. You've already turned quite a few heads here. And I suspect that there will be quite a few to follow."

"I don't know if I like that." You said nervously as you looked down.

"Not to worry love." Ignis said as he pulled you closer and kissed your cheek again. "I'll be right beside you."

"Promise?" You asked as you gave him an endearing look.

Ignis turned you to face him. Then he placed his hand on your chin as he raise your gaze to meet his.

"Not even the six could keep me from you." He said then tenderly kissed your forehead.

You closed your eyes as you started to fall under his spell as you felt his loving embrace and knew that he meant was he said. You smiled and placed your hands on his hips. Then you felt him slight pull away as he tenderly kissed your temple, then your cheek, and finally pulling your lips up to meet his as he started to fall into the moment.

You meet his kiss with the same tenderness. You felt your heart start to swell as you raised your hands up on his back as you pulled him closer. You had forgotten how good that it had felt to have him with you as you shared in a simple kiss and embrace. You released him and placed your head on his chest. You pulled him close as you melted into him. For you never wanted to let go again.

"I'm glad to see that the bond between the two of you is stronger than ever." Marge said with a huge smile as she stood there beaming at the two of you.

"Even Jim would be pleased to know that you both have stood the test of time, and distance in this case." Marge said as she smiled at you both.

You both smiled and half laughed as you pulled each other in a bit more.

"Well you know that there is truly only one way to celebrate your return miss (y/n)?" Marge said as she gave you both a grin.

"And how it that?" You asked as you held him tight.

"With a dance dear." Marge said with a loving smile.

Next thing you knew, you were both walking back to the loading dock area. You felt your heart start to flutter as you walked hand and hand with Ignis out into the center of the open area used to receive the daily deliveries. You felt slightly nervous since you hadn't danced with him, or anyone for that matter, since the night of the dance, which was three years ago.

And even that night you never even got to hit the school dance floor since Gwen made you spilled part of your drink on your dress. And then when you went to clean up, you were attacked in the hallway by a guy in all black as you tried to help out some girl, who ended up working with him as they tried to kidnap you.

Since then, you hadn't attended any school dances, not even in Altissia since you never enrolled in their middle or high school. Instead you had done all of your courses through a private online tutor through the Insomnia school district. And even they only knew you as Insom217. Which was your school ID, which even that was encrypted. Your dad had made sure of that himself. He knew everything about the tutor, but the tutor had no idea who either of you were.

You felt your heart racing as Ignis stopped you in the center of the floor. Then he turned you around slowly with your hand so that you twirled in front of him before coming to a stop as you faced him. You felt your heart leap as you skirt flared out and away from you as you spun around. You were breathless as you stopped in front of him as he gave you a hungry look. He then reach over and grabbed your waist with his other hand and pulled you closer to him.

Then as if in a dream, you heard the music start in the background. Then you felt like you were skating as he moved you across the floor as you slowly twirled and glided across the floor as you waltzed with him. As you danced with him, everyone and everything else seemed to disappear. All you saw and felt was him as you both smoothly and gracefully danced across the floor as you flowed with the music. You felt like you were on cloud 9 as he swept you along.

https://youtu.be/qPS3uwoDBjY

You felt your heart leap with each twirl. Your skin tingled with each touch from him as he would bring you close again to him as he would move you across the floor, before twirling you once more. Your eyes never left his as they seemed to devour yours as you both gazed hungrily at each other the whole time and never lost eye contact. You had never felt so connected to anyone in your own life as you moved as one being.

When the song ended, he pulled you in once again and gave you a slow gentle kiss on your lips. You could feel all of the love from him through his tender kiss as you both relished in the feeling. It was at that moment, that for the first time in for what seemed like forever, you finally felt like you were alive once again. You reached your arms up and around his neck as you returned the same tender loving kiss back to him as you became lost in him.

However, you were interrupted shortly after that when you heard clapping from the sidelines. You pulled away to see that your dad had showed up and was standing by Marge as they both were clapping for the two of you. You quickly dropped your arms and got really nervous. You had actually forgotten that Marge was in the room and you sure didn't want your dad to see that.

"When the kitchen staff told me that you two were back here dancing, I was a bit surprised." Paul said as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "Although to be honest, I wasn't expecting that."

"Dad, let me explain.." You started to say as you started to fumble.

"You don't have to explain anything to me." He said as he dropped his hands and hooked his thumbs in his front pockets. "You two looked amazing."

You both looked down shyly.

"Thank you." You quietly said after you felt Ignis' hand slightly squeeze yours. "We learned from Mrs. Marge and Mr. Jim. They both taught us before we went to the school dance."

"Well you did a great job with them." Paul said as he turned to Marge.

Marge got a very proud look on her face as she continued to look at the two of you.

"We just showed them the different dance moves." Marge said as she beamed at the two of you. "They are the ones to bring it to life like that."

Marge stood there for a few minutes as she recalled those nights before the dance and how each of you worked so hard to learn the moves so that you could please the other. She hadn't seen a more determined couple, other than herself and Jim of course. But they did it for competitions, you two did it for love. Her and Jim had done the competitions for years before they stopped. But it wasn't that they weren't good at them. It was that the competitions were starting to take the love of dancing away for them. Something that they never wanted to happen. So they stopped.

But that love of dancing never died. In fact it was fully rekindled again when Ignis had asked Jim for lessons. Then it was like adding fuel to the fire when you had asked her the same thing. When Ignis found out that you asked though, he asked for them to keep it a secret. He wanted to surprise you.

That and she had a feeling that he was a bit embarrassed that he didn't already know how to dance. So they kept it a secret, all the while their hearts filled with the love of watching the two of you learn each move. Then after seeing you dance with Noctis, they knew that you were both ready.

Never in a million years though, would they have thought that you were never going to be able to step foot on that school dance floor that night. Which was why after they saw you back at the citadel later that night, they had to give you both a chance to show the other how hard you had each worked on it. But the dance that you two had shared wasn't just a dance. They could see the burning love starting between the two of you. So for her to see that same love still there was enough to fill her with hope for both for you.

"I do hate to break this up. But it is getting late. And I'm sure that your both tired after today's events." Your dad said as he looked at the two of you.

You dropped your head as you slightly nodded. You agreed only to please your dad. But the truth was that you knew that neither of you were going to get much sleep. How could you when you were still too excited about being back? Besides, you still had a millions questions to ask Ignis and Noctis.

"Come on you two." Paul ordered you and Ignis. "Thank you Marge. I'll be sure to ask you for dance lessons one of these days."

"Any time Paul." Marge said with a smile. "Good night kids. Will we see you tomorrow for lunch?" She asked you and Ignis.

"Yeah." You both answered with a smile.

So after saying goodnight to the whole kitchen staff, the three of you headed upstairs for bed. Your dad made you turn in for the night though. He said that he didn't want you up all night talking. But little did he know, that you would sneak out of your room after getting changed. For after you saw your dad's bedroom light turn off, you headed over to Noctis' room where the light was still on.

You stood outside his door in your nightshirt, sleep pants and slippers as you quietly rapped your knuckles against his door. The door then quietly opened up as Ignis cracked the door open to see who it was. Then after seeing that it was you, he opened it up completely and let you in. You quietly slipped into the room as he silently closed the door behind you.

You followed Ignis into the room as he made his way over to the couch and Noctis who was sitting there playing his latest racing game on his console. You sat down next to Noctis and Ignis sat next to you. You watched as Noctis had his car flying through the race as he sped towards the finish line. You ended up getting caught up in the race as you cheered him on. It felt like forever since you had last played any video games.

Your dad had had you so busy in Altissia, that you never had time to slow down and play. Not even at night. You would spend most of the time working on your research papers from Korn or on your homework. For during the day, you spent most of the day working at the restaurant while your dad was at work. Then there was your early morning workouts and runs, along with your afternoon training sessions with your dad. You had actually forgotten how nice it felt to just sit and play.

"Grab a controller if you want to join in." Noctis said as he gestured towards the additional remote on the charging stand, that was on the coffee table. "Just let me save. Then we can race."

"Okay." You said with a smile as you grabbed a controller. "But are you sure that your ego won't get injured if I beat you again?"

"I let you win last time." He said without looking over at you.

"You sure about that?" You teased back as you tried to get him to relax.

He paused as he waited for his game to save before he looked over at you. He gave you a stern look as he glanced over you. Then he met your eyes. His sapphire eyes were slightly cold as he looked at you. You could feel the hurt coming off of him as he stared at you. You slightly smiled as you put a hand on his arm. You hated to see the pain in his eyes.

"I'm sorry that we didn't get to talk much at dinner." You quietly said as you looked at him. "But it seemed like Monica was talking your ear off down there."

"She usually does." Noctis responded as he glanced off to the side before he meet your eyes again. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come visit you in Altissia. I had tried several times to come up with an excuse to go to Altissia. But everytime it got shot down by my dad or Korn. There just wasn't any safe way for us to come see you without raising suspicions."

"It's fine." You said to him with a smile on your face.

"I would have been worried that they would try to come after you while you were over there, or hurt you in some sense." You said as you dropped your eyes. "After all, they were going to use me against you. And the last thing that I wanted was to give them that chance."

"But all that didn't matter anyway. They still figured out a way." Noctis said as he looked at you. You could see the hurt starting to surface more. "They made you leave."

"That was more our choice." You said as you dropped your head down.

"Well my dad's actually. And trust me when I say that it wasn't an easy decision for him to make. He had told me that, during one of our very loud decisions." You said as you grabbed his hand closest to you.

"He told me that he hated the fact that he had to uproot us like that. But he didn't see any other option for us to take." You finished as you interlaced your fingers with his.

"I've missed our talks." You quietly said as you felt the tears starting to form. "You have no idea how many nights I laid there wide awake wishing that I could talk to you. Just so that I could hear your voice."

"Yes I do." Noctis said as he reach over with his other hand and lifted up your chin so that you were looking at him before he grabbed his controller again.

You could see the coldness start to leave his eyes as they soften while he looked over at you. You slightly smiled as you felt the tears starting to fall. Then you release his hand and wrapped your arms around his neck as you pulled him in for a full embrace. He released his controller completely and wrapped his arms around your waist as he pulled you closer to him.

You immediately felt your heart rate increase as you held him close. You relished in him as you could feel his strong and sturdy frame under your fingers. You wrapped your fingers over his shoulders as you tucked your head into his neck as you held him tight. Your heart ached as you thought about how much you had missed him. It had felt like 5th grade all over again, but worse. Since then you could at least see him. Even though you couldn't seem to get close enough to talk to him. But at least then you could somewhat tell that he was alright. Where in Altissia, you had to go solely off of what Ignis told you.

He dropped his head to your neck as he felt all of the frustration from the last three years start to come back. It had driven him crazy that he couldn't see or talk to you that whole time. He hated that he had to rely on Ignis to tell him that you were alright. He's the Prince of Lucis for six sake. He should have been able to talk to you at least.

He pulled you in closer as if afraid that you might disappear again. He had forgotten how good it was to hold you in his arms. He buried his face in your hair as he embraced your warmth and familiar scent. How he had missed it. He ran his hands across your back as he felt your familiar frame and soft skin. He could tell that you had gotten stronger yourself as he pulled you closer.

"I never blamed you for leaving like that." Noctis said through a strained voice as he quietly talked in your ear.

"I blame them for forcing you to have to make the decision to leave. And I know how many nights. For I have missed hearing your voice as well." He said as he squeezed you tighter.

"No, not just your voice. I've missed all of you princess." He said then placed a tender kiss on the cheek.

"I've missed you too." You said back to him as you held him tight as you returned with the same kiss. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"I know." He said as he slowly released you so that he could look you in the eyes again.

"I guess we're even now." You quietly said as he sat back in his seat.

"I guess so." He quietly said as he grabbed your hand and gently squeezed it. "But if it's alright with you, I would rather our challenges be done in a video game instead of against each other."

"That would be my preference as well." You said as you smiled back at him as you squeezed his hand back.

He then released your hand and turned back to his game.

"Ready to race?" He asked you in a teasing voice.

"Are you ready for me to slam you into the wall again?" You teased back as you smiled at him.

You and Noctis played for a few hours before you noticed that Ignis had fallen asleep while watching you two. You quietly nudged Noctis after you finished a race. He looked at you with a questioning look until he followed your gesture towards Ignis. Then he quietly laughed as he looked at his retainer as he was passed out on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table and his hands interlaced on his stomach.

"I suppose we should call it a night." Noctis quietly said as he sat up on the couch.

"I suppose your right." You returned as you put your controller back on the charger.

Then you leaned over to Ignis and gentle touch his hands. He jumped from the touch and started blinking his eyes as he tried to look around. You smiled back down at him as he slowly sat back up. You hated to wake him up since he looked so sweet as he slept. But if he was to get comfortable and in bed, he was going to have to get up. There was no way that you could pick him up.

"My apologies." He said as he sat up on the edge of the seat. "I must have dozed off.

"Its alright specs." Noctis said as he got up to put everything away. "We're just heading to bed."

"Oh right." Ignis said as he stood up. "Let me walk you to your room love."

"How about we get you set up first?" You said as you saw how groggy he was.

You slightly laughed to yourself as you watched him half stumble around as he tried to think. You had never seen him like this before. It was kind of cute. He almost looked like he was drunk. You grinned then helped him move the couch cushions while Noctis grabbed the extra pillows. Then the two of you pulled the sofa bed out while Noctis moved the coffee table back.

"It's been a long time since I've have a roomie in here." Noctis joked as he watched Ignis straighten up the pillows and bedding on the bed.

"I reckon it had been a while hasn't it." Ignis commented as he stood back up after making sure that the bed looked good. "I do hope that your snoring has improved since then."

"I wouldn't know." Noctis joked back. "I can't hear myself when I sleep."

You chuckled at the two of them.

"Well, and with that. I'll leave it to you two to figure it out." You said as you headed for the door with a grin on your face.

"I'll see you two in the morning. Nite." You said as you opened up the door.

"Hold up love." You heard Ignis say as he quickly moved over to you.

"What?" You asked as he came up to you and placed his hand on your back. "I think that I can handle walking down two doors by myself."

"That's not it." Ignis said as he held the door for you.

Then he gestured for you to walk out. So with a curious look, you obeyed and walked out into the hallway. Once you were outside of the door, Ignis wrapped his arms around your waist. You smiled at him and wrapped your arms around his neck.

"I know that you can handle the walk." He said with a bit of heat in his tone.

"But that wasn't the only thing I wanted to do." He said as he thumbs started to rub against your lower back which made your skin tingle under his touch.

"We can't do much considering my dad is right next door and Noctis is still up." You said as you ran your fingers along the back of his neck.

"I'm not asking for much." He said as your fingers where starting to turn him on as you gently brushed them up and down his neck.

"Oh." You said with a passionate look as you pulled him closer.

"I just wanted to thank you for helping out down Noctis." Ignis said as he stared longingly at your lips. "He's been in quite the mood lately. Tonight was the first time in a long time that I saw him start to be himself again since you left. And it's all thanks to you. I've never been able to figure out how you can do that with him. But I for one am very glad that you can. I've never liked him to be in a bad mood towards anyone. But especially towards you."

You dropped your head for a moment. "I don't like to see him upset either. He's been through enough already."

You then looked up at Ignis as you felt him pull you closer.

"And so have you dear." He quietly said as he brushed your hair behind your ear.

"There's no denying that." You said as you dropped your eyes. "But that's where I have you to help me out as I will help you out in return."

"Most certainly." He said then he leaned in an gave you a gentle kiss on your lips as if to seal the unspoken promise.

~~~~~~~~~~0~~~~~~~~~~

Several hours, and nightmares later, you found yourself sitting on the porch overlooking the garden. Your heart sank as you looked out over the beautiful garden as the delicate scent of fresh flowers filled your senses. It seemed that even being back here wasn't enough to shake you out of your recurring dreams. You had really hoped that that would change the minute that you got back here. But to no avail, you thought as you stroked your cat's fur as she laid right beside you.

You were a bit surprised that Snowball still remembered you after all of this time. You had had to leave her behind as well when you left. But this had been your choice. You didn't want her to get lost in Altissia. And besides, Snowball didn't really care to travel by any means other then by her own paws. She would spaze-out if you put her in a cage.

You had figured that she would have given up on you. Yet here she was curled up beside you as you gently stroked her soft fur. You smiled down at her as you noted that she still seemed to be in good health. She had filled out a bit and was now a huge ball of fur as she had her tail curled up under her head. You smiled big at her as she purred quietly as you stroked her.

You turned back to the garden as you continued to pet her. You started to think about how different everything seemed to be in Insomnia. Now you were glad that certain things hadn't changed. But it was the ones that had that made you nervous. Plus there were still several things that you still had no idea about.

One of them being high school, which was a major one for you. For you were a sophomore this year, which means that everyone else in your grade had already been there for about a year now. Where you haven't even set foot in the building yet. This itself made you nervous since the last time you walked into a new school building, you ended up spending the night in the hospital. You really didn't want a repeat of that again.

Although this year would be different either way, since Noctis was a freshman, while Gladio and Ignis were seniors. This would be the only year where all of you would be in the same school at the sametime. You smiled to yourself as you thought about that fact. And besides, this year, you already had a boyfriend and friends to hang out with, even before you stepped foot inside the school. Perhaps this year might actually be fun for once.

With that happy though in your head, you got up and entered back into the bedroom. Snowball woke up and followed you in and hopped up on the bed as you crawled back up under the covers. Then once you were settled again, she curled back up by you feet and fell back to sleep. You slowly rubbed you double heart pendant necklace as you smiled to yourself. You pictured yourself and Ignis walking through the hallways together holding hands as you heading to the library to study during lunch, or as you headed to choir. Or perhaps even as you heading to swim practice. You smiled to yourself as you felt your eyelids get heavy. To you it didn't matter where you were walking to. Just as long as he was with you, that was all you needed.

******Author Note******

I think that it is just as hard to adjust to a new place as it is when you return to something old and familiar. In fact in some cases, it's harder to return then to start out new. I've returned home several times to try it over again. But each time just wasn't the same. The streets and sights were the same. But the people all changed. Some for the good, while others seemed to take a turn for the worst. They say that you can always go back home. Ultimately you can, but there's no guarantee that the changes will be in your favor.

I do hope that you like this chapter. Its a bit dry but necessary as is everytime you face changes like these. But I hope that you will continue onto the next chapter as we finally head back to the house where your whole world seemed to crash down.

Thanks for reading. :)

************************