Thoughts adrifting... [Reserved for Chase & Mia]

A brooding twilight spread through the world, stars shimmering in the air, the moon in a gleaming shine. Only a few fireflies dared light the night with their warm glow, dancing through the dark duvet of shadows. A strong scent of pine needles was set in the air.

Mia had simply hopped out that afternoon, leaving a note for Chase in hope he wouldn't worry. She didn't think he'd seen her slip out.
She'd just sat there while the sun pined away, while the moon emerged from the trees.
She didn't know why she was here, the trees around her only made her want to climb, only made her want to climb as high as the heavens.

Too bad.
She was on crutches now, at least.
But it wouldn't get her any higher.

The tone of Mia's note had portrayed her desire to be alone clearly enough; she didn't want him to follow her. It was simple to understand why: even though she was on crutches now, she still yearned for the degree of freedom she felt on the rooftops, the freedom that wasn't available to her as long as she had broken limbs.

There was something in Chase that told him to stay, to let her be a big girl and live her own life.

The better part of him, the majority, including his feet and his heart, urged him to slip out behind her. And so he did, trailing behind a safe distance, watching carefully and pausing every so often. She stumbled through the town, into the forest, and his forehead wrinkled. What is that girl getting herself into...?

Watching as a Firefly swirled around her and into the bushes, it seemed to light up a hint of black in the distance. She paused for a moment, squinting through the dark, but soon gave up and dismissed it as seeing things.

But a lingering, shadowed feeling told her to look soon after.
She slowly hopped over to investigate, frowning worriedly.
Indeed, there was a dark figure.

"Chase...?" She asked quietly, taking a wild guess.

He flinched. Darn it. So much for incognito. Forcing a smile, he stepped out of the shadows, and into a small patch of light on the forest floor. "You caught me," he said, holding his hands up. He approached her slowly, trying to look as innocent as possible, not knowing if she would be angry that he had followed her. "What are you doing out here?"

Mia, for some reason, felt relieved. She didn't know why, but knowing Chase was there, even though he sneakily followed her, made her feel better.
"I'm just... Thinking." She answered solemnly. She surprised herself, her words felt absent of... Herself.
It scared her a little.

"What are you doing?" She quickly asked, smiling distantly. Of course, she already knew, but it made her feel a little more stable to ask. Killing the silence.

He frowned at her; she didn't sound like she was okay. Maybe physically, she was fine - well, as fine as a free spirited girl like herself could be while bound in casts and to crutches; emotionally, however, she sounded tired. Void.

"Mia, are you okay?" He hated that question, personally, and gave the standard response whenever it was asked of him. But he could think of nothing else to break through to her. She had been a little distant, licking her own wounds. Of course, he accepted this, and it would be selfish of him to think she was concentrating on him with even a portion of her thoughts.

However, for whatever reason, that was exactly what he wanted. Maybe even more.

Mia looked down, trying to think of something to say.
She felt like such a burden, like a weight for Chase. She didn't like relying on him so much, she constantly worried that she'd get annoying. But still, she knew she could never have enough of him.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep him out of her thoughts.
Chase always just found his way through some crack into her heart.

Mia tried to think of something she could do, something to say.
"I could use a hug..." She admitted. It wasn't what she wanted her mouth to say, however, her body never really obeyed her orders.

Nonetheless, a hug was just what she wanted.

He didn't even pause to think it over. By the time the words had left her mouth, he had closed the gap between them and pulled her close, folding his arms tightly across her back. He became her crutch, and one of them fell to the forest floor, something he duly noted and quickly ignored. He tightened his grip on her, and made a mental promise never to let her go. Something was wrong, and he couldn't fix it, but maybe just a hug could make whatever was bugging her a little better.

Mia didn't care when her Crutch fell from her arms, all that mattered then was Chase.
Even though it hurt, she wrapped her own arms around him in a firm hug.

She wasn't tall enough to get higher than his chest, but that wasn't a problem.
Again, she could hear his heartbeat.
She didn't want to let go, she didn't want his constant warmth to leave her, didn't want the beating of his heart to leave her mind.
There was a nook somewhere in his heart, a little place she wanted to be. She didn't know if she ever would, and that brought shivers down her spine.

"Don't ever go..." She murmured quietly into his chest.

He shook his head. "Now, why would I do that?" He was considerably taller than her; she only came up to about his chest, though she wasn't standing to her full height because of the casts. He leaned his cheek against the top of her head, resting it there for a minute. "What's wrong, Mia?" he asked, voice low, considering he was close enough to her to speak without booming. "Honestly. What's bothering you?"

Mia hugged tighter -careful not to strangle- and bit her lip. She felt childish, but she needed the closure.
"I worry sometimes..." She said. A choking melancholy stopped her from speaking any louder than a whisper. "I'm so scared I'll do something to lose you."

Mia never had much a reason to, well, live before. She never really took care of herself, and if she got hurt, she got hurt.
But since Chase had come along, she had a reason to live, to recover. If anything ever happened to him, she didn't know what she would do.
She felt silly, but at least, tucked warmly in Chase's arms, she felt a little better.

He laughed out loud. "Silly girl," he said, pulling away a little. "You couldn't make me go away if you tried." He hesitated, and then added, half-joking, "You aren't trying, right?" He hugged her again, this time quicker, and then let her go. "Do you always wander to the woods when you're sad?" It wasn't a mocking question, or a teasing one. Everyone had their own hideaway. His was the dock at the beach, or his store. Hers just seemed a little inconvenient.

"Don't worry," he said in what he hoped was a soothing voice. "I'm not going away anytime soon."

Mia felt a little better. Chase's words brought security back to her heart.
She smiled a little. It wasn't her usual grin, but it was a smile.

"Well, I suppose I do." She answered, "But, I'm normally miles higher, in a tree."
Whenever she did feel the need to escape, she normally found solace high up in the skies. It was risky, sure, but it was peaceful, and nobody could follow her.
Well, not usually.

But, though her broken bones still hurt, she felt a little better.
"Chase?" She looked up to him.
Again, for the thousandth time, she tried to define something in his eyes.
"Thank you..."

He kissed her, quickly, on the cheek. He smiled, and put his hands on her shoulders, steadying her until he could pick up her crutch with the toe of his thick shoe. He held it out to her, and waited until she had steadied herself. "You'll be okay," he told her, meaning it. He meant every single word he said to Mia. There was something about her that made him feel comfortable with the truth. Every piece of it, minus the one part that he wasn't quite sure about. That part, he kept stifled until late at night, when he tried to sort it out in his mind.

"Did you want to stay a little longer, or go back, or be alone, or what?" he asked, changing the subject quickly.

Mia immediately missed Chase's lips as they left her cheek.
Still, she smiled thankfully. The doubt was disappearing from her world, worrying shadows chased away by a firefly. She hadn't healed, but she felt like she had.

"We can do whatever you want." She answered softly, watching the light from the fireflies dance and flicker in his eyes. The night was turning cold, but she felt warmed.
With any other person, she would feel uncomfortable, with any other person, she'd feel cold.

But Chase had a warm glow, a soothing presence.
She felt she could just melt away into the night.

He put his hand on her back, splaying his fingers between her shoulder blades, where her angel wings would be if she had them. He didn't doubt she did, either. "Come on," he said, leading her out of the forest. "It's dangerous here sometimes." He, for one, had felt pretty safe, but he wouldn't say that; instead, he would lead her back into town, where people buzzed, but his mind stayed in one place.

Mia nodded and hopped along in her crutches after Chase like a lamb after her Shepherd, leaving the dancing fireflies behind them in the forest.
The streets were not quite so filled with the bustling activity it was in the daytime, a few people locking up shops and stalls, a few wandering seemingly aimlessly.

People were bundled up on this cold night, and as per usual, Mia had no jacket.
But there was something that kept her warm.
She had a feeling she knew who it was, looking over to Chase with a smile.