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Amazing how the gender roles seemed to be reversed, Bell thought as she was walking back to her apartment after walking Xavier home. Usually it was the guy who was the protector, and who walked the girl home. Now Bell was fighting the urge to guard Xavier's apartment. He was safe for now though, she hoped.
She on the other hand hurt and had a massive headache. She dare not let him know about the gash she had on her back from being thrown into that suit of armor. It hadn't started bleeding until after she henshined down, and really she hadn't known about it until she felt the blood trickle. Luckily it didn't bleed through to the sweater she was wearing over her dress.
She didn't want him feeling bad because she got hurt. Besides, almost getting one's starseed stolen was way worse than a little gash on the back(in truth it was from her right shoulder blade to the small of her back on the left side) and a headache.

Nope, it was her little secret. Princess knows she'd take far worse for him any day. He trusted her to be his shield, after all. Even though she'd failed pretty bad today.

Bell looked at his pen, still in her hand. It had been handed over that second time without any effort at all. Bell smiled lightly. Whatever princess was out there was nothing compared to this.



Bell got home to her apartment without any problems. From the outside, Bell's "Apartment" (which was more like a house in a community of houses that looked just like it - she just said apartment for simplicity's sake) on the outside was built in an Old English style, but on the inside, it was clearly modern. (I redrew the floor plans, btw). It had cream colored walls, and the living room had beige carpet. The rest of the floor, save for the bathrooms, were hardwood, as was the trim. Appliances and everything were modern, and the decorating was homey. On the table in the kitchen was perhaps the only clutter to be found - a sewing machine and remnant fabric. Bell had just finished sewing the curtains for the place.

Bell headed up the stairs and to her room, where she reached in her tiny closet for some new clothes - something comfy to wear for the rest of the evening - and then headed to the bathroom. She started filling the tub with water, her plan to take a nice relaxing bath, and think about the day's events. The warm water that stung her wound as she got in was a glaring reminder.

In retrospect, perhaps a shower would have been better. She was dirty and would have benefited better to have had one, rather than to sit in this bath where she'd be sitting in her own filth, but some bubble bath later and that was forgotten. it wasn't like she didn't plan on showering again in the morning.
She let her thoughts turn, her mind churn, her heart flutter, until the water was no longer warm. She had found peace, and was content as she dried off, got dressed, and flopped on her large, canopied bed, and looked out the window out at the night.

For the first time, she felt lonely.

It was a cool, crispy night, that night. Roughly 8PM - still early. Bell didn't end her patrols until almost 2:30AM, these days. The streets had been quiet. Bell didn't let her guard down though. "Expect the unexpected," so they say.
Bells day's were spent more as a Senshi now than anything - slaying Youma and keeping the general area safe having become a priority. Looking on the bright side though, Bell really didn't have anything else to fill her day - she didn't have to go to school, and she didn't have a job,..and she sorta did kind of need to make up for all that slacking she did when she first became a Senshi.

Any Senshi that would have flipped open their cell phone probably would have spotted Bell on there at any given part of the day, or night. Sleep just didn't very well happen some nights, and not for lack of trying either. Princess knows she sure looked exhausted enough some days. But when she did sleep, her dreams were restless and full of puzzles, and she woke up just as exhausted as she was before she went to sleep.
She reasoned that it was because she had so much going on in her mind, and there simply wasn't enough time during the day to work it out. Or...something like that, that she'd learned in psychology.

Sigh.

For the better part of the past few days since the last Basterds meeting Bell made her only communication to Xavier through phone. It was hard not to see him, especially considering she patrolled a good two block wide perimeter around his apartment, and could theoretically have dropped in any time. However, Bell believed in the line "Distance makes the heart grow fonder."
And so, no matter how hard it was, she kept away. But if he opened his Senshi cell, he'd know she was there.

Journey played in the background as bare foot, and dripping from her bath, Bell Mcmahon crossed the hall to her bedroom, towel wrapped around a cherry blossom and coconut scented form. A better of CD couldn't have decided to play in the five disc CD-player that set atop the dresser the had recently acquired.



A wistful sigh escaped the girl as she half flopped half sat on her bed and started to braid her hair. Tomorrow she was going to call Tallulah to see if she'd like to go shopping with her the day after. After all, Bell didn't want to seem give too short of notice, lest it mess up any of Tal's plans. Bell was even ready to bribe her if necessary.

That, however, was anywhere in the thoughts currently occupying Bell's mind.

Even after more than an hour later, she could still feel the touch of his lips on hers. Her mind replayed the moment over and over - the fear, the terror, the dread, the disbelief, the joy... She'd felt with every fiber of her being each emotion. It didn't matter how inexperienced either of them were. in fact, that was probably all the better, for it only amplified the magic of that moment.
If she hadn't before then, it was safe to say that Bell had fallen, and fallen hard. But she wasn't without someone there to catch her, now was she? No. In all truth she had feared rejection just as much as he had. After all, it made little sense to be so connected after only knowing each other for a few weeks! Bell had been afraid that her protectiveness - and she couldn't help but feel so! - would have also hindered matters.

Fate however, had seen to things. Like objects in space headed for a collision, their worlds forever entwined.

Bell didn't notice the CD player turn off, or even remember turning the light out. For all she knew she was already asleep. Had always been a sleep, and everything was a dream. The first pleasant dream in many weeks. Either way, soon, she was dreaming, asleep beneath the blue mesh canopy that surrounded her bed, snug tight beneath the multitude of blankets, and held tight by pleasant dreams.