Casey, her hair an untamed mess as she hasn't showered or slept in a real bed yet, walks into her living room as Riley shuts the front door and locks it. She tosses her purse on the long sofa before turning around to lean against the back of it, looking at him anxiously.

"Should I call and check up on her?" Even her voice is exhausted.

"She's with Marc." He smiles as he approaches her, lightly pinning her against the back of the sofa as he goes in for a short kiss. "I'm sure she's fine."

She quickly pulls away, other thoughts flooding her mind. "I'm just worried about her."

"Didn't she say last time that you were smothering her to death?"

"Yeah." She nods. "But that was before she was literally almost smothered to death!"

Her mind clearly made up, she turns around and reaches over to take her phone out of the side pocket of her purse. Before she can unlock the screen, he snatches the phone from her hand.

"She's fine." He reassures her, setting the phone on a small table pushed up against the left arm of the sofa. His hands grab her shoulders from behind, giving her a light massage. "I'm more worried about you right now. Just try to relax."

"I can't just relax."

"I know. But try." He looks around the den, his arms dropping from her shoulders as they lower to her waist. "Look, we have the house to ourselves tonight. After you take a short nap and a warm shower, we can raid your parent's wine cabinet and have a drunken movie slash game night."

Casey turns around, giving him an are-you-serious look.

He rolls his eyes. "Oh, don't act like that doesn't sound amazing to you."

"Okay!" She gives in, the idea actually sounding refreshing to her right now. Especially the shower. "Fine. But if we get into the expensive stash, just remind me to replace it with Boone's Farm. Not like my mom would notice."

As they lean in for another kiss, a nearby voice interrupts the moment.

"A drunken movie night, aye?"

Both heads turn to see Peyton, leaning against the bottom of the staircase with a widening smile.

Casey rolls her eyes, already knowing what is going through her sister's head. "Yeah, you're having apple juice."

"Nash!" Taylor, now wearing a fresh set of clothes her parents brought to her at the hospital the night before, leans down to pet the small German Shepherd. Nash wags his tail crazily as he licks at her hands, beyond excited to see her. She smiles, looking up at Marc as they stand in the narrow hallway leading to his bedroom. "He remembers me."

"You're kinda hard to forget." Marc smirks as he opens the door to his room.

She adjusts the backpack slung over her shoulders and follows him inside, Nash nearly slipping on the hardwood floor as he chases madly after them.

Looking around the small room, a smile emerges on her face. It's just as she remembers it. Framed classic movie posters, most in black and white, are hung on the wall across from his bed. It reminds her of when they would go to the theatre in downtown Duncanville to watch screenings of older movies, often finding the stories and characters more intriguing than what modern films tend to show nowadays.

"Thank you." He steps toward her. "For coming over."

"Thank you for inviting me." She turns to face him, still smiling. "It's nice to be back here."

"I think I speak on behalf of myself and Nash when I say it's nice to have you back." He finds himself staring at her for a moment and quickly looks down to give Nash attention. "Isn't that right, Nash?! Didn't you miss her?!"

Nash licks his hands and turns to sniff Taylor's pant leg, his tail still wagging at full speed.

Taylor reaches to pull the strap of her backpack off her right shoulder and grunts at the pain from the weight. Her bandaged hand begins to tremble.

"Here, I got it." Marc insists, quickly grabbing the strap from her. He helps her take off the backpack before setting it on the floor in front of his computer desk. "You don't have to do everything on your own, Taylor."

Knowing that he's referring to more than just the backpack, she nods. "I know. Thanks."

For the most part, she has always been an independent person. She tends to keep her problems to herself, bottling them deep inside, and would rather not get others involved in her emotional wrecks. Although he admires that aspect of her, he doesn't support it. He feels that sometimes it's better and healthier to let someone in, someone who can help you work through whatever it is, than to suffer through it all alone.

But he knows Taylor all too well.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" She asks, landing on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know." He says indecisively, slowly sitting down next to her. "We could watch Shameless."

She points at him playfully. "The U.S. version."

Looking at her, and being so close for the first time in what feels like forever, Marc can't hide his blushed cheeks. "I missed this."

"Missed what?" Taylor plays dumb, already feeling where this is going.

He gestures at the two of them sitting together with a swift of his hand. "This. Us."

Smiling, her tone is nothing but sincere. She wants to hold back the words but can't. "Me too."

Marc props his knee on the bed as he turns further to face her. "What happened to us, Taylor? Why did we split up?"

Staring at him, she doesn't respond. She doesn't know how to. Should she make up another lie for why she supposedly doesn't love him? Another excuse why they wouldn't ever work together?

He continues. "I've been telling myself for the past few weeks that what we had was—"

She suddenly interrupts him with her lips, kissing him passionately as her hands meet behind the back of his neck to pull him in closer.

Stunned, Marc slightly pulls back. "Taylor, are you okay?"

"I think I am. I think I finally am." Taylor smiles, pulling him with her as she lays back on the mattress. He leans in, not resisting the least bit as he kisses at her neck. Her fingers dig into the sheets as she looks up at the ceiling and lets out a soft moan.

And just like that, her sexual instinct takes over. She claws at the back of his shirt, pulling it up to reveal Marc's slender body and he sits up to help her pull it over his head. He leans back down to kiss her but this time on her lower waist. Each kiss leads a trail up to her chest, pulling her shirt up with his hand.

He lifts his head to gaze into her eyes once again, still shocked as to what is going on. "Are you... sure?"

Tears filling her eyes, finally realizing how long it has been since something good has happened in her life, she nods. The last thing she wants to do is let him go.

Marc smiles, somewhat afraid that this is a dream and he's bound to wake up any second now. "I love you."

Grabbing him by the back of his neck, Taylor pulls him back down for another kiss. His arm accidentally lands on her injured hand.

"Oww!" She squirms the hand out from under his arm.

"Sorry!"

Laughing, she grabs his shoulders and pulls him to the mattress beside her. This time she climbs on top of him as the two roll around in the bed, tangling themselves in the sheets. Forgetting all about Nash, he barks and growls as he jumps up onto the bed. He playfully bites at the tumbling sheets, his tail wagging uncontrollably.

♫ ʟᴏᴠᴇʀs ᴏʀ ʟɪᴀʀs / ʟᴀᴜʀᴇɴ ᴀǫᴜɪʟɪɴᴀ ♫