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It had taken pulled strings to get her to come back, if just for two days. The price was going to be hell, no two ways about it, but Marcus didn't care. He didn't care if it would mean demotion, if it was a pay cut, getting podded, he had lost his abilty to 'give a ********'. Dis tried to dissuade him but in the end it only made the moon hunter more determined to bring her back. One day he'd been told. 24 hours she could go back to the main base before she'd be stuck at the other outpost, alone. But so long as she knew he was alive, that he was waiting for her-

She'd be okay. He'd be okay. He'd been trying to focus on his work for the past days but it was useless. Both on his house, their house really, In the field- the other moons noticed his melancholy. The ones in the medical noticed how he did things precise yes, but depressed. They didn't need a depressed man attending to those healing. They needed him focused but back to his more useful and semi-optimistic self. They needed Marcus back mentally. They had told him to get his s**t sorted. Do whatever he needed.

Cass got in the way of work. Cass had been his reason to work. To enjoy life, to fight. She'd become his sun, his stars and oddly, his reason for being a moon. Her gone, thinking he was dead ate at his worry, at his own guilt. If he'd had moved sooner, if he'd just gone home she'd have known. But no. He'd been selfish. And now like every other time it bit him in the a**.

But he'd gotten her location.
He'd gotten permission, (but not really).
And now, wildflowers he'd grabbed off the island in one hand, dressed in clean shirt, dress pants- he wanted to look nice for her. He wanted to bring her home, even if it was just for a day. The door to her 'room' stood like a wall to him. She was behind the door. Alone.

He didn't want her to be alone.
He wanted her to have him, even if it was only in her heart.

Heart pumping, palms sweating, his coat felt heavy, Dis on his pocket, not on his skin, easy to discard, easy to leave behind. He wanted to focus on Cass, cherish her. One year since he'd found her. He refused to spend their first year anniversary apart.

He refused to leave her alone.

Marcus Hasan had promised her forever, and he was damn well sticking to his word. Knocking on her door, the sound of his hand on the cool material made him shiver. He wanted to be warm again, feel alive again. He wanted to be whole again. He wanted to have Cass in his world again. He wanted his reason to live again. Love again.

Dis meanwhile loathed it. It wasn't even a month apart and he was acting like a dying lovebird.

He swallowed the nausea. Nervous. That was the feeling growing in his gut. Would she cry? Probably. The idea of her crying because of him hurt a part of him, for whatever the reason. Would she scream? Maybe. Would she hate him?

The thought terrified him. He loved her, he loved her more then he thought he ever would, and the idea she'd hate him for not getting to her sooner made him feel sick to his very core. Love was the most powerful emotion, and it made him the weakest man in the world in those agonizingly slow moments as he heard the click of her door, the creak of it opening. The sight of light brown hair, a delicate frame edged with toned muscle he knew, the sight of two light blue eyes that could make him feel the happiest man in the world each morning when he woke up to see them along with her smile.

She was his sun. She was his stars. She made him the moon he so wanted to be.

Cassandra Norris. Once his girlfriend, now fiance. The woman he wanted as his wife. The woman who had up and changed her name to Cassandra Hasan and then told him that same day without even having hinted the day previous. Strong, loving, passionate, caring, affectionate, forgiving, amazing, wonderful.
Perfect.

The woman he'd kissed on a whim.
The woman he loved on a chance she'd loved him back.
The woman who's death made him fear above anything else in the world.
The woman who had given him everything, yet would never demand more then a kiss good night.

Cass, the woman he loved.

Flowers dropped to the floor as she stared at him. He choked up, voice cracking as he finally found the words. They were so weak, they felt pathetic. But they were words. They were all he could find himself able to say,

"Sorry it took so long Cass. I-" He reached out, fingers very gently touching her face. Her skin was warm, her eyes were puffy, a bit red. She'd been crying. "I managed to kept my promise."

The sad part of it all perhaps, was that Dis knew his silence was his only saving grace. Sad for him, elation for Marcus. Dis was silent as the grave and it suited him just fine.

The silent elation was a back thought, at the front was nothing but emotion for the shorter hunter. Pain on her face made his chest tighten, that nausea coming up, panic and worry. He'd ******** it up. He'd ruined everything. It was all his fault all over again. He wasn't worth her. He was the worst person for her. He didn't deserve her. She'd be better off without him. maybe he should be dead. Maybe he should have ended things before they had gotten this far.

Then she embraced him.

Everything broke down after that.

Marcus was an emotional man at times, though he preferred to break down alone if he did, everything was thrown to the wind. Cast down and out. She was crying, holding him, touching him, trying to see if he was real. Everything in him wanted to scream out, 'I am real'. 'I am right here'. But she held him, and slowly, arms wrapped around her, slowly, tears falling down his face, silent.

"I'm back." He whispered, kissing the top of her head as he held her tighter, pulling her as close as he could. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you." Her mantra was echoed by his own.

'I'm sorry. I love you. I'm sorry. I love you. I love you.'

Nothing could send him back in time to fix his mistakes.

'I love you I love you I love you'

But he could try to fix them now.

Warmth. The feeling of being alive again. It wasn't supposed to leave you, but after that first morning waking up alone, the feeling that he might never see her again, the fear that he'd missed his only chance- he felt like he'd died. She made him feel alive. She made him feel he had something, someone, worth living for. She gave him every reason. She didn't even have to try, she just did. She was no dream, this one no dream. Dis wouldn't have let him dream of her.

She was real, he was real, it all was. Right down to that feeling of cool wetness falling off onto his shirt collar and then touching his skin. Her kiss was met with equal passion. Soft. Quick. Just to assure, to affirm their reality. She touched his hair and his face. She was acting in a daze. He was in his own but-
"I'm right here case. I'm here." He grabbed her hand, kissing it. Each finger, the palm of her hand. He kissed her, held her hand in his.

"Conquest wouldn't make me leave you. The fog tried. Dis tried." The weapon remind silent, glow gone. "I'm still here Cass. I'm right here."

He was real. He was alive. He was whole and happy and relieved and- She was okay. She didn't hate him. Eat kiss had him smiling a little more. "I was in the infirmary the first day. I didn't go home and by the time I did you were already gone. I missed you by just a few hours. Then- I couldn't find our where you were. I couldn't come out. But- Cass."

He reached out, cupped her face feeling like he'd simply won back everything, that all the pain had been worth it to just see her again.

"I only have permission for one day. So, so come home with me. I know its not much, but it's all I could get. I want to wake up with you again. I love you, and I want to spend this day with you, no matter what it'll cost me."

He sniffled a bit, his own tears ending far more quickly than her own. He'd shed enough tears, he didn't want to shed anymore. He loved her, and he had his sun and stars and a moon rising in his heart again. Sometimes he wondered if she knew how much she meant to him. How much she had done for him, how much she had given him. Did she know?

He would tell her. He'd tell her early but he would. His journal was his heart on paper. And it was about time he let her read his heart without him fumbling for words. The first decision. Marcus's second was to promptly pick her up and smile. He couldn't help it. She was coming home if just for a day.

"Mine for a day. Your's forever Cass." He kissed her nose, not caring about her sniffling. "I'm your's forever."

Door shut he laughed as she fussed over it. It was a simple thing, shutting and locking the door but it made him smile. It was so like her. Even when in his arms after a death a are she would want to close her door before going out. "Mine forever. My amazing, brilliant, wonderful, perfect Casandra." Another kiss to her forehead, he walked them back to the portal, ignoring the looks from the hunter on duty. He didn't care. Cass was in his arms. She was back for a day.

The second they were passed through, back on the island, he was kissing her again.

Only this time he knew how to multi task. Walk home while showering Cass in kisses.

He might have had practice.

Class's plan had one flaw. There was only person who he would carry and kiss. Only one person who could make him smile like he'd won the lottery. It was a pretty dead giveaway. Then again, to anyone who the pair would know that when the love birds were focused on each other, it was unlikely they would have time for anyone else. The only thing that would separate the pair would have to be the leads themselves.

And Marcus was so focused he might just risk ignoring them too.

Laughing and giving her a spin Marcus motioned to the house in the distance picking up his pace, (and holding back on kissing just a bit). "Some but I fixed the larger ones. I... Almost left them. Just because they were marks from you."

He blushed as they got closer. "I missed you more than I ever thought I could."