Welcome to Gaia! ::

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and this story is purely for gift purposes.

Amelia slowly made her way up the paved pathway along the side of the parking lot towards the new co-ed school of Gallagher and Blackthorn with her bags in hand. After the incident with the red-headed stranger, known as Cinders, and the bombings before the spring; no leads or answers on the incident or the young Beatrice Williams had turned up. After some time, the panic and interest in both matters died down. However, both Gallagher and the then-newly-restored Blackthorn were no longer suitable for lessons, as it would take too long to restore the two schools to working conditions anytime soon. The students were dismissed from the schools shortly after the bombing of the hallucinogenic gases for an early summer break while the new accommodations and other matters were dealt with by the Headmaster of Blackthorn and Headmistress Sileas. So, Amelia Valadeze spent her first couple of weeks off with her fiancé, Dominic. “Perhaps it’s best not to question two young teenagers of their actions when one is skilled with guns,” is what Amelia had caught one professor saying to a senior student a week after Dom had given her the ring that she now no longer wore on her finger...

She opened the door to the main building and stepped foot in the new front entryway. Normally, she would’ve been looking for her friends and classmates to chat with about their summers; their conversations would last in the front entryway for hours. Unfortunately, her thoughts distracted her and all she wanted was to find the directions to the girl’s dorms, pick up her class schedule for the year, and be on her way. “Dominic is the last person I want to run into,” thought Amelia as she unwrapped a piece of candy from a bag of treats she had brought for herself. It was a thought Amelia had never thought she would have, but it had played itself over and over today, as well as during the past couple of months. Munching on her candy, she followed the signs as well as moving mass of students until she eventually reached the great hall where lay the tables holding the schedule of her classes as well as other information she would need at the new academy for exceptional young children.

The tables were arranged so that there were the boys on the right and the girls on the left with each side further divided and organized by grade. Filing herself in the line for the sophomore table, Amelia noticed that all of the teachers in the great hall that she knew from last year seemed to be upset about something; their eyebrows were furrowed and their mouths held themselves in hard frowns even as they addressed the students. Once she got closer to the front of the line, she realized that Sage was the one handing out the envelopes for her grade and that she wore the same expression as the rest of the staff, though on Sage it just looked like someone took a bag of candy away from the poor professor. When she finally reached Sage, Amelia asked Sage why all of the teachers looked so down and plopped her bag of treats on the desk.

“What is this, kid? A bribe for some info?” Sage’s mouth started to break into a small smile, as Amelia stuttered and waved her hands quickly. “No, no! I just remembered I had some leftover candy and thought you might want some. A-and why would you ask that? Is the information about why you’re all so upset classified?” Sage's expression brightened, as she grabbed the bag of candy, “Nah kid, it’s just we’re a little butt-hurt that we were told to let the bombing thing go. It bruises our egos a bit,” Amelia watched as Sage shoved some candy in her mouth, “OH, not to mention the staff building is so ******** far away from this main building and it’s between the girls’ and boys’ dorms, bleh! Here kid.” Amelia took the envelope and map of the school’s grounds, said goodbye to the now-happy teacher and left the great hall for the dorms. As she walked around, Amelia started daydreaming about the time she spent with Dom in those first two weeks of their long break.

He had bought her clothes and an assortment of delicious foods while they were in Italy for their first week off and Amelia would rarely be caught not grinning from ear to ear. He always put a lot of thought into his gifts for her, from hair pins to bouquets, eating pastries to viewing history museums; he always sought out ways to make her happy. On their second week, they spent their time together in Amelia’s hometown. “Amelia, I need to tell you something,” was how Dominic had approached her on their second to last night together before he was going to go back to Italy to work over the summer. She had simply smiled and continued washing the dishes her mother had asked her to wash, but stopped when she realized that he had laid the book he was skimming through on the counter instead of putting it back where he’d found it.

“Amelia,” he wouldn’t look at her when he spoke, but she could tell from where she was that his eyes reflected pain. It was then too that she realized he wasn’t wearing his ring at all today. No, She thought, he just forgot to put it on. Everything’s fine. Dom had paused to look up and take a deep breath: “I think we’ve acted too quickly. I shouldn’t have—“ his words became garbled, but his message was loud and clear when a tear ran down his cheek. He shouldn’t have proposed to her. “No, Dom please. You don’t mean that,” Amelia spoke softly as she took a step towards him and he took a step back: “Amelia, It’s too early for this,” he gestured to her all of her house, “I’m not ready for this and admit it, neither are you.” Then they started fighting.

After a while, Amelia lowered her voice to a whisper and said that maybe them getting together was a mistake from the very beginning and that she regretted it. “Maybe we should break up then,” Dom spoke quietly too, even though he was still enraged from their argument. Amelia nodded:

“Maybe we should.”

“Alright.”

Looking grim, Dom had left letting the door swing shut behind him.

Finally, Amelia made it to the dorm rooms. Stepping inside, she closed the door softly behind her. With her back pressed against the closed door, she began to cry. No one was there when it happened; whenever she broke down and cried after her and Dom ended their relationship, and Amelia preferred it that way.

The first week of school went smoothly for Amelia; the freshmen and sophomores were in a different wing of the main building than the juniors and seniors were, so the only chance she had of running into Dominic was on the walk from one building to another or in one of the rooms in the north wing of the main building, like the great hall during meal time or free time or in the library. On her second week back, Amelia had slept in late dreaming about Dom like he was the only thing that existed in her world; she regretted the words said in their argument during the summer and wished they were still together, but knew it would take a while to mend their relationship back to the comfortable place that they were at before. Having already missed her first course of the day, First Year: Covert Operations, as well as half of her second course, Second Year: Countries of the World, she decided to grab a snack from the small dorm kitchen and head out to help at the library.

As she was crossing across the courtyard, Amelia's eyes caught the gleam of sunlight on a familiar pair of glasses, and she turned to stare at them; her throat began to close up. Coughing, she dropped her eyes to the ground and started rubbing it. “Amelia! Are you okay?” Dom had come over after hearing her cough. She looked up at him and, blushing, whispered, “I think so." He handed her his water bottle which she took gratefully. "Thanks Dom.”

Patting her head, Dom smiled and turned to continue walking.

Amelia cleared her throat and yelled after Dominic: “Y'know, I was thinking...” Dom froze for a moment so he could correct his expression; he didn't want Amelia to see the hopeful smile on his face. He turned and put one hand on his hip. “Oh no,” Dom smirked, “thinking again are we?” Amelia made the cute, flustered face Dom was hoping for and he laughed as he walked back to her. “What is it you were thinking?” Amelia scratched her face and stared down at her feet then back up into his eyes and Dominic began to blush thinking about what she might say to him.

“Did you hear me Dom?” Amelia punched Dominic's shoulder to snap him back into reality. “Huh?” She was blushing now to but Dom wasn't sure why. “I said I would like to be your friend and get to know each other again then maybe... I mean, if you want t-” “I don’t think you understand the position you’re putting me in here right now,” Dom stuttered and laughed lightly, messing with Amelia's hair. “What? Do you not think it’s that easy to be friends? I know it'll be a little awkward for the first couple of months or whate--” “No, no, Amelia. That's not what I meant.,” he laughed again with the biggest smile on his face, “It's just that I have these files Professor Williams wanted me to run to the Research and Development building and I've been meandering around for the past half-hour soaking up the nice weather instead.”
“Oh yeah, the last couple of weeks in the part of Italy you were in were pretty wet weren't they?” She smiled and he smiled back. “Yeah…to both.” “What?”

Amelia's face contorted in confusion. “Yes, the weather was pretty bad; and yes, let's get to know each other all over again. But you got to promise me this,” Dom paused for her to say what, “You and I will be together again.” “Friends are together Dom--” “Not what I meant,” he whispered while kicking his toe into the ground. Amelia blushed: “Oh...” Dom turned red. “What do you mean “oh”? Do you not want to date me again? I can tell you right now: I refuse to be one of your regrets. I can't stand knowing that you regret dating me.” “I don't regret dating you Dom…I regret breaking up with you. I still love you as much as I did when we were dating and would like to go right back to how we were before…but I didn't think that you'd want that.”
“You thought wrong. I love you just as much as I did before too and want nothing more than to be able to call you my girlfriend again.” He took her into his arms and kissed her lightly. Looking down at his phone, he rubbed his head. “Crap, I gotta run. See you in the library at lunch okay?” “Okay.”

He smiled walking backwards as he waved goodbye to her, almost tripping over a rock as he did so. In return, she giggled and waved back. Just like that, the conversation was over and their relationship had begun once more. In the library, they cuddled during lunch catching up on each other's summers and discussed how they would wear their rings on necklace chains to symbolize their relationship and love instead of getting married since they were both too young and wanted to still focus on their careers as spies.

Ten years later, Dominic and Amelia decided to get married once more and carried through with it. Dominic still works as an agent for the government and acts as a liaison between the US and Italian agencies, while Amelia teaches at the school as the new Professor of the History of Espionage. The couple are also expecting their first child. On their time off, the two of them visit Italy and wandering around the museums, historic sites and the streets like they did the summer of their first engagement. Amelia's friends, teachers and students tell her that the Dom and her have the feel of a couple that has been together for 50 years and the spark of teenage lovers to which she replies: “that's because we find a way to gain something out of any change we experience that will benefit us and take down any conflict that may arise, like any spy is trained to do.” And smiles with a light blush across her face and a hand on the ring hanging on the chain around her neck.

END