That's What You Get When You Let Your Heart Win

[Sarah Tintagyl]

When Sarah woke up on a gray Thursday, Larsa was still alseep. She shook her head and looked and his tired body, worn and torn from disease, war, and civil strife. What was she doing? She had told him yesterday that she had an emergency meeting in Canada, but that it would be necessary to land in Nova Scotia before heading the rest of the way to Ferinh. God, she felt horrible. All the bags were packed, well one bag at least. Just enough clothes for the weekend and a few other little odds and ends that she took along with her everywhere. She needed to escape the pressures of politics and government, but was spending the weekend alone with Evan really the way she wanted to go about doing it? Leaning onto the bed, she bent down over Larsa's forehead and kissed him lightly.

"Have a good weekend darling."

His eyes peeled open just for a moment. "Are you leaving now Sarah?" She nodded. "Okay, well have a good trip. Stay safe." He lifted head to kiss her on the lips. As their faces interlocked, her heart began to tear. She almost wanted to cry, but how could she stand it if when she kissed Evan she felt the same feeling. Damn...

"Go back to sleep Larsa, its early. I'll see you when I get back." Sarah said as she walked over to her bag sitting on the vanity and placed it over her shoulder as she walked out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and out to the parked limousine waiting in the courtyard. As she stood on the sidewalk waiting to get into the vehicle she sniffed the air lightly. It was going to rain soon. Stepping into the limousine it was a lonely ride to the airport and an even lonelier flight across the Pacific and across continental America towards the small island off the coast of Canada.

When Sarah landed at the airport, her jet immediately took off and during the flight changed immediately out of her more formal looking clothes into something a little more causal. Looking just like another girl in her twenties, she walked through the halls of the airport in Halifax with a mixture between sadness and happiness on her face. God, what was she doing here? But it was important to her. Evan was important to her. It would be hard convincing at the moment, but Sarah knew that the minute she laid eyes on him again, everything would click again. That's how it always worked. Regrettable, but realistic.

Exiting out of the airport proper, Sarah took a seat on a bench away from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the airport and sighed, but as she sighed she began to smile. So this was like normal life was like. Complicated...

[Sargun II]

"Run! Run!"

A rocket-propelled grenade soared through the air and landed next to her. He lunged forward and covered her body with his own. Heat flared up against his body, charring the armor. The smell of burned hair ripped across his nostrils and he knew for certain that he would die right there. Shrapnel lodged itself in his back, the useless kevlar folding under the pressure. The worst part was the force of the explosion. Still holding her in his arms, he was lifted off the ground and thrown ten feet, much larger than he was supposed to. RPGs aren't that powerfu--

Their Humvee was a flaming shell. The smoke from the explosion was a beacon to prove it. He tightened his grip around her, pulled themselves up and started running. His rifle was gone, his pistol fell away in the blast. He reached around and grabbed her pistol, pulled it out and started firing randomly. Three soldiers ran in front of them, pushing them behind. One they rounded the corner, safe from gunfire, they tried prying her away from him. He tightened his grip into a bear hug, refusing to let go.

Another explosion.

"You need to get in the Humvee.. aw, balls," the third soldier instead started pushing him to run. "Run, soldier!"

Helicopters streamed overhead, door gunners firing their machine guns. He looked above and smiled - they were safe. Another helicopter, a transport one, started landing in the middle of the large intersection. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up and into the helicopter. Moments later he jumped up, screaming in pain from the shrapnel in his back. Tears of pain streaming from his eyes, he steadied himself as the helicopter rose up again.

As they rose above the buildings, a quick burst of bullets struck his chest. His armor protected him from death, but he lost his breath, balance and all sense of being. He fell. Hands groped above and grabbed on to the legs of the helicopter. He tried climbing up, pain at every breath. The helicopter stopped moving and a door gunner took care of the gunman. She reached down and grabbed his arms. She started pulling him up. He grabbed her arms and pulled, blood now falling to the ground. He looked at an adjacent roof and his body went numb. A gunman with a rifle was aiming steadily - not at him, but at her.

"No!"

With his (presumably) last breath, he whispered something. She paused. He took the moment to wrench his arms out of her grip. A bullet whizzed by precisely where her head was a moment ago - the movement from his action pushed her head out the way. He fell.

Below him was death.

"No!"

Evan shot up in his bed, his breathing constricted. Everything seemed to swirl around him, the wood walls closing in. He closed his eyes. Everything returned to normal. He wanted to lay back in bed, but he didn't want to fall asleep. Damnit, why did he go to sleep in the first place?

10:03 AM

"Ugh," he threw the covers off, got dressed and took a quick shower. He wondered why he was even doing this and not going to the freezer and eating a whole tub of ice cream. He loved ice cream. Why wasn't he -- son of a !@#$%*. Sarah. With a jolt like lightning, he unhookd his window and jumped our, landing in the gravel driveway. Panting, he reached the fence that led to the pasture. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he called for Epona.

She came. She was a beautiful thoroughbred, her bay coat glorious in the morning sun. Smiling, Evan stood on top of the fence and lowered himself over her body. His legs on each side and Epona's content neighing urging him on, he lightly tapped her sides and let her go. "We're heading to the airport to pick Sarah up," he told her, as if she could hear him. He smiled.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

She sat on the bench in a daze looking at the ground, trying to forget about her responsibilities that awaited her when she returned either to Europe or to Brisbane. The world, it was collapsing around her and this vacation was becoming more necessary by the hour. Now Sarah just wanted to see Evan, she knew that if anyone could make her forget about the trials and tribulations threatening her life at the present, he could. As she sat, the strange sounds of horseshoes echoed on the pavement of the airport.

"Oh...my...God." Sarah sighed as she threw her head into her hands. "A horse. And he was the one talking about trying to keep this meeting a secret." Stepping off the bench she approached her knight on horseback and smiled up at him. "I'm glad you remembered to come. I'm looking forward to forgetting that there's even such a thing as Planet Earth." Sarah threw her backpack behind her and petted the horse because climbing up behind Evan. "She's beautiful. Thank you for bringing me away from all that. Where are we heading though?"

[Sargun II]

"Of course a horse. Nobody's developed this place in a long time. Before the old Republic was here, bunch of tribal dudes still rode horses. Cars haven't even been here that long. Hell, the airport's only two years old. Nobody'll pay much attention." Evan grinned and patted Epona's head, leaning forward and rubbing between the eyes. She snorted. His grin widened when Sarah climbed on - he was almost a kid again. Nightmares can kiss my sexy, white $@!, he thought to himself, chuckling on the inside.

"We are going.. well, I have no idea really. Dunno how much fun you had on your plane or if you'd like a shower so I thought we'd head up to my cabin. It's kinda big," he said sheepishly, "but after that we could do anything we want. I practically own this place."

[Shadowsage]

OOC: I hate that song, but good read.

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: I hate that song, but good read.

OOC What song? I must have missed that...

[Shadowsage]

OOC: Title. God, I tried it on Rock-Band. Never Again.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"We are going.. well, I have no idea really. Dunno how much fun you had on your plane or if you'd like a shower so I thought we'd head up to my cabin. It's kinda big," he said sheepishly, "but after that we could do anything we want. I practically own this place."

To be honest, she did feel a little dirty, a little messy and a shower would be just the thing to freshen her up. "Yeah that sounds nice. I mean we have all weekend, its not like we have to rush into things." She watched him smile as Epona began to trot down the road towards the wooded areas near the outskirts of Halifax. Evan was right, it was a small town, almost to the point that it had been cut way from all civilization and had developed into the town on its own. It would definitely be relaxing, but Sarah was curious if there was going to be anything to do at all.

As they passed deeper into the woods Sarah could see the beginnings of a large cabin situated atop a small hill. It wasn't as big as Evan had made it out to be, but it was large for a cabin in the woods. As they got down off the Sarah made her way into the cabin as Evan took the horse around to the back, presumably a stable of sorts. Inside, she understood immediately that he was indeed the owner of the island. A great wooden room opened up with a roaring fire and various taxidermy animals hung on the walls. The smell of fresh pine hung in the air as Sarah began to explore further into the cabin, finding the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms. Throwing her backpack on the bed, she removed her various supplies and threw them on the floor below her then taking a shirt and a fresh pair of jeans went to the bathroom to get her shower.

The shower was heavenly, it was definitely nicer than the one she had at home. Five jets on the walls blasted away at the grime that covered her body and the shower stall itself was made out of hard pine, that made her feel like she was in a sauna. After getting out she changed and did her make up to come to find Evan resting on the couch in front of the fire. Sitting down next to him she smiled. "So what's on the agenda for our relaxing weekend?"

[Sargun II]

Evan went around to put Epona back in the field. She seemed comfortable with Sarah, which was great. The three-year-old horse neighed in pleasure when she got a deep hug from her owner. He rubbed his hands over her head before his thoughts went back to Sarah. He controlled himself - oh come on, you know it'd be hard to not imagine her in the shower (OOC: don't kill me ) - and thought about what they'd do.

Golf? Hiking? Boating (whatever that is)? Making fun of Canadians? Nah, silly Commies.. Well.. hm. If she really wanted to keep it a secret we could go to The Hills..

He shrugged and walked back to the cabin, where he silently walked to his doorway. The water was still running, so he started thinking again. About all the decisions he was making recently. The whole Artemis thing - he knew that eventually he'd come back, but.. but until then he'd have to sit comfortably behind the scenes in Louisiana. Until he came back, more powerful than ever. At the moment, Artemis was practically burning their money away, but they were stabilizing as well as he could hope. He flopped down on the couch and waited for her to get out of the shower.

When she did get out and sit next to him, he straightened up and smiled. "Well, if you must know.. I have no idea. I was thinking of taking you up to The Hills and show you how bad my golfing skills are so you could laugh a little.."

[KaiserMelech Mikhail]

Making fun of Canadians?

OOC: Do this one! Do this one!

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah's eyes widened. "Golfing." She started to laugh. "If I knew we were going to go golfing I would have brought my clubs with me." Sarah shook her head and jumped off the couch to stretch. "You know I'm a decent golfer to be honest, and if we are going golfing, I'll have to change again, I have a much more suitable outfit." Walking back to the bedroom where her clothes were, Sarah changed into a golf skirt and a polo shirt she had brought with her in case they were going to go touring in the town and if it was going to be extraordinary hot.

By the time she had come out, Evan was standing in the room with two golf bags, after all he was rich, and golf clubs were easily to come by with those that had money. Examining the clubs closely, Sarah smiled, they weren't like her clubs back at home, but she could get used to these. The two walked out of the cabin and back to a garage where Evan took out a jeep, they both hoped in and he drove them back out of the woods towards the rolling hills to the east of Halifax. They arrived at the country club a half hour later, the sky was blue and the hills were green and as bright as emeralds. The course was up kept as well as any European or Australian course and the sweet smell of pine was in the air, it was going to be a great day.

Checking into the course clubhouse, Sarah and Evan immediately went off to the first tee. Teeing up the ball, Sarah stood still, balancing her driver on the ground before taking a massive back swing to send the ball flying through the air, landing softly on the fairway. She smiled as she looked back at Evan. "Your shot."

[Sargun II]

"I'll just pretend to know what I'm doing," Evan replied to "Your shot," and he chuckled. "I'd suggest standing back a while, last time I swung one of these I hit a low-flying bird." Damn bird, he thought to himself as he teed up. Or whatever it's called - he didn't know how to golf. The entire point of this was to laugh at his insanely bad golfing skills. Matter of fact, the last time he golfed he celebrated as the "worst golfer of the Hills" with his insanely high score. He got really drunk. Really, really drunk. So drunk that he ended up needing to go to Europe to relax. He went to a little cafe, where he met this awesome chick named Sarah. Really cool girl.

Anyway, he ended up swinging wildly the first time, only to miss and lunge forward, nearly kicking the ball. Laughing at himself, he lined up and tried again. Phew. Nothing happened. Now he was cursing under his breath in a comical manner, and this time he decided to put all he had into it. The club went back, and then forw-- wait, where was the club?

Then he heard the crunch.

$%&@

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah had almost lost it when she had seen his first try at his swing, but she held her tongue. Then as Evan lined up again to take the second shot, she watched him come back with the club and then all she remembered was falling to the ground as a horrible pain enveloped her body. "OH WHAT THE $%&@!!??" Sarah went down to the ground like a brick holding her leg in pain. "Geeze, Evan, have you ever played golf in your life?" The pain was horrible, her leg wasn't broken, but it hurt like hell. "Oh God." She bit her lip and pounded the ground over and over trying to make the pain subside. "What are you trying to do, take the better golfer out of the game?" At that Sarah couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit. "My God, you really are a goof." She smiled up as she tried to get to her feet.

"AAUUGGGHH!" Sarah screamed as she straightened her leg and fell back to the ground. "Maybe not just yet. Oh God it hurts. We're going to have to wait a bit Evan. You really did a trick on me here." Her muscle was already becoming black and blue in the bruise. "Well we can still play, but I don't know if that's such a good idea anymore with what you did. Unless I can get a full body suit of armor. But its up to you. AUUGHH!" She went back to holding her leg.

[Sargun II]

"Son of a !@#$%* son of a !@#$%* son of a !@#$%*," Evan muttered under his breath. He immediately rushed over to Sarah, his face redder than a large bundle of tomatoes. "I'm sorrysorrysorry," his face was in eternal sorrow mode and he really didn't know what to do. He was an engineer, not a doctor! "I badapah," he stuttered at the second word and dropped to his knees. "Number one, I think you won before we started. Two, sorry. Three, you're going to a doctor. Four, sorry. Five, this will hurt."

His large hands snaked under her body and his arms were placed firmly on the grass. His left hand gently grabbed her left arm and his arm cupped her back, while his right arm pressed against her thighs as he slowly moved it down to her knees. "Okay, on three.." He quickly pulled up, knowing that she wouldn't be braced for it. The pain might spike now, but expecting pain is worse than feeling it. From then on, he gently started walking.

"Does my walking hurt?" His tone was genuine care.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"No, it doesn't hurt, actually the pain isn't bad at all. Thank you for helping me." Sarah smiled as she nuzzled her head into his chest, it felt so warm, even in the heat of the afternoon. Evan carried Sarah back to the jeep in the parking lot and then after dropping her off in the vehicle returned to get the golf clubs. While he was gone, Sarah looked down at her leg and sighed, damn this was going to be a problem for the rest of the weekend and Evan was so kind, damn this couldn't be happening again. She couldn't be falling in love again, not when she was already married, but she had a feeling that something was happening. She knew that he had always done stupid things in her life, but she had been trying to suppress a few of the more seductive thoughts out of her mind. To be honest, Sarah could be shrewd when she wanted to be. She knew that beauty was a gift and though at first she was modest about such things. There had been many leaders she was able to change their minds just by changing her wardrobe or smiling a certain way. Sarah sighed, it was like the historical female leaders in the past, beauty had always been a way to get ahead. Men enjoyed it and women got what they wanted. But Evan and Larsa that matter were different, there was love here, not lust.

When he returned, he still wore the look of grief on his face, but smiling, a genuine smile she was able to make that disappear as they headed back into Halifax. Evan said he knew a doctor there that would make sure she was fine and at first Sarah protested, due to that fact that she shouldn't be in Halifax to begin with, but he assured her everything would be fine. When they arrived, he carried her out of the jeep and into the waiting room where he sat her down in a chair to talk to the secretary. All Sarah could think about was how fast she could get out of there...the office that is...

[Sargun II]

When he came back to the jeep, she was smiling. His frown disappeared - she could do that. Nobody else could. How does she do it? She had half of the world's major leaders practically at her whim at one point (although she never seemed to capitalize on it), she was even married, yet she was here with him. Right now. Her smile reminded Evan why he was quite possibly the luckiest man in the world. He returned the smile.

Once they arrived at the small hospital, he carried her into the lobby. When he sat her down in the chair, he resisted the urge to kiss her - wouldn't it look like he was pampering a child? He didn't want to embarrass her more than she already was. "One second," he said quietly. Not that he needed to. There was nobody else in there. Holding back a laugh at how fragile she was (compared to how she looked), he walked into the second set of doors.

"Hey, Jessie."

"Hello, Evan."

"I've, ah.. got a friend in the lobby."

Jessie scooted forward on her chair and slid the window.

"Is that.. Sar--"

Evan put his hand over Jessie's mouth and shook his head. He slowly withdrew a roll of twenty's from his pocket and placed it on her desk. "No. No it isn't."

"Hm.. oh, is it one of King Sargun's new girlfriends? What a player," she gave a laugh and pocketed the roll of money. "I'll get Doctor Young," she said, taking a second roll from his pocket and walking through a third door.

Evan smiled and walked back into the lobby. "Come on, let's get that leg looked at. I talked to Jessie, mum's the word." He helped her up and half-carried her through the door (it was too small to carry her through) and helped her into Doctor Young's office.

"Doctor Young, Sarah.."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Evan walked her to the table in doctors office and sat her down, the cold metal make her legs burn and if she knew that this had all happened, there was no way in hell that she would have worn a skirt. The pain had subsided a considerable degree, but as much as she told Evan that she was fine he persisted, yet that showed how much he cared about her and that was sweet of him. "I appreciate you taking me in so quickly Doctor Young, but really I'm fine." She made a muscle for the leg that was in question, it was black and blue all up the center and by looking at the doctor she could tell that it wasn't going to be a quick visit. "I mean I could probably walk on it now, the pain's just sharp that's all." Sarah sighed. "But that's up to you. What do you think?"

[Sargun II]

Doctor Young smiled. "I'd be less concerned about the healing and more concerned about how this is going to look." He looked at Evan. "I won't be treating you any differently in terms of healing, and under your circumstances we'll need to make some.. changes to your lifestyle. For one, public appearances and travel need to be kept to a bare minimum."

--- do dee do ---

Doctor Young brought in the x-ray, frowning. "This is complete fracture of your tibia and fibula. Since bone healing is a natural process which will most often occur, fracture treatment aims to ensure the best possible function of the injured part after healing. Bone fractures are typically treated by restoring the fractured pieces of bone to their natural positions, and maintaining those positions while the bone heals. Often, a physician will align the bone, called reduction, in good position and verify the improved alignment with an X-ray. This process is extremely painful without anesthesia, about as painful as breaking the bone itself. To this end, a fractured limb is usually immobilized with a plaster or fiberglass cast or splint which holds the bones in position and immobilizes the joints above and below the fracture. When the initial post-fracture edema or swelling goes down, the fracture may be placed in a removable brace or orthosis. I'm going to have to place the fracture back in a whole condition and then you'll be given a brace."

He turned to Evan and sighed. "Natural bone healing will do its course. Now, I've taken an oath to do no harm. This young woman will be in serious trouble, and I don't want her life ruined because you're a moron who can't swing a golf club. Not only are you going to take care of this young woman-"

"-doc,"

"-but you're going to ensure in every possible way they she has no stress, no activity on that leg and it heals fully. Further, you're going to make sure she has a sound reason for breaking her leg and learn some responsibility!"

"Doc.."

Evan looked very much ashamed of himself.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah's eyes rolled back and she gave a glaring look to Evan when the doctor posted the results of the injury. It didn't feel like a broken bone, but then again she had never had a bone broken in her life and the pain had been excruciating, but broken...damn...the weekend was entirely ruined. The rest of the visit took at least another two hours as Sarah was fitted for her brace and the bone was set into place so that the healing could begin. That was pain, she never felt pain like that before, even getting shot had been better than the bone fracture. But after it was all over, she was set in the brace and given a pair of crutches to walk with.

As they left the office, she turned back to the doctor and shook his hand. "I really do appreciate it Doctor Young, that's for taking such good care of me." He returned the good-bye and Sarah and Evan headed off towards the jeep parked outside. As he helped her into the vehicle, Sarah laid her crutches down across her lap and sighed. Evan looked absolutely heart broken by what had happened and she felt terrible. Sure it was his fault, but he looked so pitiful right then and there and she couldn't just destroy him like that. As he entered the car and opened his mouth to apologize again she placed a finger up to his mouth and held it there. Then moved into for a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry about it. Stuff happens, its no big deal. I'll be on crutches for awhile, I can say I fell down some stairs and everything will be fine. Now my question is...how are we going to make this weekend fun still?"

[Sargun II]

"Well, I'm pretty sure I won't be golfing again," he smiled a small bit and turned the keys in ignition. "Better yet, on all the three times we've seen each other we've always done what I wanted to do. Two of 'em ended up ruined, so.. what do you do? I know very little about you, I was gonna cook something and then I realized I have no idea what you like," Evan gave a single laugh. "Sorry, this definitely just ain't what I'm used to. 'Specially breaking legs," he added, smiling even though he didn't want to.

"Thankfully, you can swim with a broken leg. If you want to. I mean, I'm not a doctor but you can.. I mean I've heard of people swimming wtih br--" He sighed again. "$%&@ it, your leg will heal if I have to will it with my brain, and it shall do it as you swim."

OOC: he'll heal WITH BRAINPOWER

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Evan was so quick to propose stuff that he had forgotten already the freedom of choice that he wanted to give to her, it made her buckle over in laughter. "Sarah, we can do anything you want to do, how about we go swimming?" She said in a sarcastic but humorous tone. Looking back she could see him frowning a little bit and her chuckle immediately stopped as she put her fingers on his hear and massaged his scalp. "Evan you take everything I say so seriously, you're as bad as Larsa if not worse. But I mean if I can actually swim with a broken leg then I think its something we should do." Sarah did remember that he had had a pool back a the cabin when they had first pulled out of the garage. It was nice too, built in with a granite lining, stunningly beautiful. "No, I'd love to go swimming. We have to figure out something to do don't we?"

When they arrived back at the house Evan was immediately there to help her and walk her back to the house. Once helped back into the bedroom, Evan left her alone to change again, for the third time in five hours. It was just like school again, going through five different outfits in one day. Seriously it was enough to make Sarah sick that she even brought that many clothes with her. Good Lord though, if the clothes collection was bad, the shoes she had at home nearly took up a closet themselves, which if she could remember correctly caused a very nasty argument between her and Larsa who had been cut off to a small amount of closet space because the shoes were getting in the way. But she couldn't help that, its what came with the salary of a Head of State, especially a young girl of twenty-nine.

The swimsuit she had taken with her was old. Probably about three years old, but Sarah hadn't grown since she was about nineteen to it wasn't like it was tight or anything. If anything she had tried her best to watch her physical appearance in the coming years. Letting herself go was scarier than anything else she could think of and though the thought of living a life at the gym was even less desirable, she was able to stay in shape and was proud in her own mind at the small little biceps that she was still able to have especially with the limited time to work out.

Wrapping a towel around herself she walked through the house, well, hobbled through the house towards the pool in the back. Evan was already out there cleaning some of the falling pine needles as she walked to the edge and slowly began the descend down into the water.

It was like heaven as soon as she got past her shoulders, it was like the water took all her pain and all her troubles immediately away and pushed them into the garbage filter and on top of that, the water was extremely warm. Finding a place in the pool shallow enough for her to sit down, but deep enough so that she wouldn't be fully underwater, Sarah took the stress of her legs and let the water completely envelop her. "Oh Evan, this is absolutely amazing."

[Sargun II]

Once Sarah got into her room, Evan went to his own and changed into his swimming trunks. They were blue with a white stripe on the side and reached a little past his knees, so they were kinda baggy. He was, though, rather proud of his physique. He loved to work out, and he needed to in order to stay as a pilot in the Sarnungan Air Force years past. He was ripped but not bulky, something he found nearly impossible to balance once he became Director. This was one of the reasons he bought the pool - to keep his body nice. He patted the swim trunks down and walked outside while thinking about Sarah. He felt beyond bad, a little into the I $%&@ed it up area but not yet into the goddamnit, Evan area. He picked up a broom and started to sweep some of the stuff away from the (rather unused) pool while he waited for Sarah. He wondered what she would look like with only a swim suit on, but quickly ended those thoughts when he realized he had baggy swim trunks on (OOC: he's a dude, hush).

When she came out and got into the water, he grinned. She slowly slipped into the water, and to not look like a dick - oh, come on like he's really gonna jump into the pool while she's got a broken leg - he walked into the water until it hit his trunks. Once it did, he fell forward and propelled himself under the water, swimming to where Sarah was and surfacing.

"You know, I'm suddenly not regretting paying so much for this."

Edited May 1, 2009 by Sargun

[Sarah Tintagyl]

She leaned back and took in the quiet air around them. If the pool wasn't heated she'd be freezing already, but the air and the warm water made a pleasant contrast to her body. Her chest and legs warm, while her face cool. "Its nice to finally take a breather Evan, I really do appreciate you bringing me up here. The house is beautiful, the whole island actually." She removed her sun glasses and glared at him then burst into laughter. "Maybe if it wasn't for your horrible golf swing..." But seeing she hurt him, her mouth frowned as she drifted over to him to float next to him. "I'm sorry, but you have to know, that its fine. I'm been shot twice before. A broken leg is nothing to worry about."

Sarah lifted up her left leg from the water, revealing a scar about a centimeter long. "This was after the Coup in Helsinki." Then sticking her chest out of the water she showed another scar that ran down from her shoulder blade. "This was during a speech in New Cymru." Flopping back down to the water she sighed. "When I was a little girl, I never thought any of this would ever happen. To be honest, I never planned to go into politics, I wanted to be a writer. But my brother who was supposed to be my father's successor to the Baltica Iron Works Company died of Van Draam's Syndrome so I was named successor. Dad died when I was nineteen and its been chaotic ever since." She shook her head. "I'm not as weak as people think I am, I might be frail, but I've seen things that most people don't seen in their worst nightmares. Its turned me into a bit of a monster to be honest, but I think I've done pretty well. I'm hoping that the tension in Europe dies soon. I'd like to see the cemetery again where my family's buried at." She bowed her head. "I don't really have anyone left Evan. Its just really me. Larsa's family "adopted" me, but its not the same. Its kind of hard sometimes."

[Sargun II]

"Sarah, you're not alone," Evan replied in a low voice. "You may think you're alone, but.." He hesitated, hoping he didn't say the wrong thing. He wrapped his right arm around her left shoulder and gave her a one-armed hug, holding her tight in the water. "If it helps, I'm always here. I can relate to just about anything, you'll never be alone. It sounds lame and cliche but, uh.. yeah." He resisted the urge to laugh. There was a rather long silence as he held her, his feet touching the bottom of the pool. "I never knew my father. I had a dad all right, up until mom shot him." He gave a humorless snort. "But my father was a soldier and she was a pretty nurse, and Africa was a pretty damn crazy place. Never saw him, only know his name was Brian. Ran away from home when I was sixteen. Mom didn't care, nobody really did. She had eight other kids, all from the same man. Guess I was the black sheep. Well," he sighed.

"Well, I met King Sargun when I was sixteen. In that same cafe I met you, actually. Flew from New Orleans to Berlin, met the only single dude in the cafe and it turns out he's a friggen Prince! Heh, didn't really know it then but I'd be fighting for him. 'Time I was nineteen I had joined his personal guard, and he was King. The tattoos on my temple hide shrapnel wounds from when terrorists attacked the King about ten feet away from this pool. The smoke and skull overlap a scar from a bullet that streaked my arm as I dragged him away from his dying dad." He shook his head. "I was in an army in South America, during the South American War, and I watched as our Nordlandic general ordered us to play soccer with the heads of civilians. I've seen.. horrible things, Sarah. You and I, we've been through more than a human should go through ten times over. Don't even ask me what happened to mom," he nearly whispered at the end, closing his eyes.

"You're like my happy pill, Sarah. Whenever I've felt depressed lately, I just kind of sit back and remember Berlin. Or the look on your face when you saw that Baltic sunrise, and you just make me smile. It's not just you. It's me and you."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

She turned to him and smiled. "I really appreciate that Evan, I really do. There's so many men that have thrown themselves at my feet, world leaders that have promised the world to me, but to be honest I know that they don't mean anything they say. They promise me and the Hansa eternal peace and the riches of the world. But all they see is a pretty face with a decent body." She chuckled. "A face that's seen horror and a body scarred from war." Pulling herself closer to him, Sarah stared into his eyes. "No one ever told us how hard this life would be for any of us. My dad never told me that I would be struggling in life so much. But people like you make it easier for me. Makes me know I'm still human." She reached over to kiss him on the lips, but the kiss which started out as a small peck quickly became more passionate, but as Sarah began to stand to turn her body to face him, her cast slipped through the water and her entire body went under.

Surfacing, she glared at Evan for a minute before blowing her wet hair out of her eyes. "Sorry about that."

Edited May 3, 2009 by Sarah Tintagyl