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Conquering The Tree

It was right where he had stood as a boy, all those years ago, lanky and tired looking with hands roughened from work. She stared at him, unable to breathe, and then, without a thought in her mind, fell away from the window. She wasn't aware of the journey through hallway outside her room, down the lengthy staircase and exit out of the sprawling back entrance. Her mind was a complete blank until she was a few feet away from the sycamore tree, windswept and breathless and slightly overwhelmed. She approached him then, acutely aware of the yards of space between them.

Her mind was in a whirl. It had been years, but the shock of seeing him framed by the same background was almost dizzying. When he had come for her then, he had been partway her friend, partway her caretaker...

Now he was a man.

Her man?

You're angry with him Kate, a weakly stern voice echoed. Focus.

He had the brooding look going on once more, the one that he was reputed for and which had led Kate to discovering him in the first place. And oh my, were they in the right for making it famous.

His thumbs were tucked in his pockets, and he took them out when she approached, straightening. He had arrived in his finest suit at his most Greymark, looking like an imposing drug lord, and as he watched her come closer, his brow cleared, his eyes darkening with absorption.

She smoothed her face of emotion as she closed the distance. Her insides felt like noodles, but she was going to face this like a woman, damn it.

Just that...seeing him there again...at their tree...

She had never thought of it as their tree. But it was. Now it certainly was.

How she had run at him, climbed over him. She hadn't loved him romantically then, and yet closing the distance from him had been a fierce urgency. But now, with how she felt for him, it was sheer torture. How could someone love a person and also want to kill them a little for what they had--Her face suddenly wiped clean in shock. Did she love him now?

Oh God.

What struck her, even as her heart thudded in wake of her new realization, was that while she had almost convinced herself in the past two days that she didn't know him and never had, he had gone and done the one thing that had made him Luke Marshal.

Her gaze skittered up the tree, then came back to rest on his face. It took a few seconds, but sudden realization lightened his dark eyes. He followed her gaze up, and then looked back at her, eyes slightly wide. Then they narrowed, blazing with emotion.

Clearing her throat to dispel the sudden tension, she veered for the tree, tucking her hair behind her ear, and studied it silently. This moment felt too important to shatter with fights and accusations. Especially considering him coming to this spot reminded her that, at least one other time, he had also come for her.

She reached up to trail her fingers over the tree, finally saying softly. "The gardeners keep these things annoyingly smooth. I think John and Doreen might have thought I was trying to commit suicide, attempting to climb them." she admitted, facing the tree squarely, unable to look Luke in the eye as he watched her.

He stepped closer to her, his shadow falling over her, and she felt the air shift around her like a physical thing. Her fingers trembled slightly on the bark, and there were a few moments of pulsing silence.

Then a set of strong fingers probed the bark beside her, and she shot Luke a look. He was watching the tree fiercely, his throat slightly corded with tension, but his voice was determinedly calm, "I think we can find something."