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[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey smirked against Theo's skin as he groaned. She loved when she caused those kinds of sounds come from him. And she wanted even more of them. She continued kissing along his neck until Theo had a plan of his own. His fingers found exactly what they were looking for which caused Hailey to let out a long moan as her eyes fluttered closed. Gods, his hands were complete magic to her and she just wanted more. She bit down on his shoulder gently as she let out another moan as she bucked her hips slightly. "Gods..." she muttered out as she pulled her lips away from his skin. And then she did what she could only think of doing in that moment and that was catching his lips again in another passionate kiss.

[Theo Dean]

Theo worked his magic making sure that Hailey had an adequate distraction as they kissed. Her long moan told him that he was doing something right and he kept up the good work as she began bucking her hips against him. “Gods” was right. Theo didn’t think Aphrodite herself could be as hot as Hailey was right now and as she kissed him again Theo gently rolled her under him so that she could lay back on the couch. He intended to enjoy every minute of their love making and the documentary playing on in the background told him that they had plenty of time.

“Relax…” He whispered to her as he broke away from her most recent kiss. “I’m going to give you all you need and more.” Now that his initial frantic need to touch her had passed Theo was content to make the most of this time for both of them. With any luck this would be a night they wouldn’t soon forget. “Just enjoy yourself.” He started kissing her again and with his free hand he began unbuttoning her jeans. There would be time for more hot and heavy stuff and later as they were laying in bed dozing they would have a few of those rounds under their belts to wear them out. For now though he wanted to spoil her a little and that’s precisely what he did.

[Hailey Nichols]

And spoiled she was. Despite him being a child of Hecate, Theo just knew what magic he could create in Hailey. And there was never, ever a dull moment with him around. Hailey was pretty worn out after everything was said and done. She curled up next to Theo in bed and took a deep breath. They managed to move to the bed sometime during their fun and Hailey had no desire to move anywhere else in that moment. Besides, Theo smelled good. She didn't know what it was and she couldn't put her finger on it, but Theo just smelled good and it brought Hailey a sense of peace and security.

And maybe that's why she was so tired after all their lovemaking was done. Her eyes fluttered closed as she took a deep breath, breathing Theo's scent in. She didn't know what came over her, since she silently swore to herself all those years ago that she would never utter those words again, but with Theo, she just kind of lost control. Maybe it was the magic he had with her. "I love you," she muttered as she snuggled up closer to him.

[Theo Dean]

Theo wasn’t sure how long they had carried on that night but one thing was for certain, the sex was hot and heavy and lived up to everything he had come to expect of his time with Hailey. Later, much later by the feel of it, when he finally slid down beside her in a satisfied, exhausted haze it was no wonder that he began to drift off almost instantly. Slipping one arm around Hailey he found a comfortable spot where he felt like he could hibernate for the rest of the winter with occasional breaks for more lovemaking but by the time Hailey was snuggling in to him and finding her own comfortable place he was almost gone and nothing was going to bring him back until he got some rest. Almost nothing in any case…

It was odd that three little words could have such a profound effect. Really it was a wonder that he had even heard them but he did hear them and those three little words served to do more to wake him up than a bucket of cold water dumped over his head would have. It wasn’t the first time he had heard them, Theo had been around long enough and had smooth talked more than a few girls into bed with him so a little “I love you” was bound to come out every now and then but it was a shock nonetheless and Theo’s eyes flew open with all thoughts of sleep instantly banished from his mind.

I love you. Hailey had said I love you. That was big, very big, and it was a lot bigger than Theo had ever been comfortable with. Yet here they were. It was bound to happen eventually but it was soon, far too soon and that was a problem.

What did that mean for him? He cared about Hailey, no doubt, but love? He had never experienced anything that he had even remotely compared to love and that kind of commitment…well Theo had never exactly been the model of commitment. He had thought Hailey was the same but he guessed he was wrong.

The problem with ‘I love you’ was that it was too final, it begged a response and the response she probably wanted wasn’t one he thought he could give. Still, this wasn’t his first go around with this issue and he knew he had to say something. That being the case he gave the only answer he felt comfortable giving and hoped for the best. “That’s uh...great Hailey. That’s…really great.”

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey felt herself start to relax enough to possibly fall asleep. However, after she muttered those three little words to Theo, she felt him tense up and her heart immediately plunged into the depths of her stomach. She wasn't expecting him to say anything back to her, if he did bother saying anything to her. Those words slipped out of her mouth and his reaction said it all. It reminded her of the first time she had with her first boyfriend. She said those words to him and he dumped her shortly after. And then there was the boy she loved as a huntress, but that didn't put her in any good circumstances. But here she was wondering if history was repeating itself.

She should've just fallen asleep and forgotten all about it. She didn't care if Theo returned the feelings or not, but she did care about him leaving her. She couldn't be left again. Not on terms like this. She took a deep breath before she picked her head up and propped herself onto her elbow as she looked at him. "Theo?" she asked as her voice shook a bit. "Is everything okay?"

[Theo Dean]

It wouldn't work. It never worked. Once the "L" word was out in the open there really wasn't any way to put it back up and in Theo's experience that was never a good thing. Next would come the blow up and then the tears and then things would just go down hill quickly. It was unfortunate but every time he would get comfortable with a girl it would happen and it would ruin everything.

Theo laid there almost expecting Hailey to start shouting at any minute but then something strange happened. There was no shouting, no punching and no tears, at least not yet. Instead Hailey sat up and began talking to him. In some ways this might be worse but at least the situation wasn't out of control yet. Maybe he could salvage something out of this after all.

With a sigh he pushed himself up so that he could look at her. "Are you sure you want to do this right now?" He asked not really expecting an answer. It would be nice to let this wait until morning, maybe she would forget about it by then. That wasn't how these things worked however and Theo knew it. "Guess I'm not that lucky huh? Hailey, everything is fine, or at least it should be. I like you. Hell, I think you're a pretty awesome girl. I...well I care about you a lot. Love though? That's a big word. A real big word Hailey and you just threw it out there." He let out another long sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I care about you but love is serious stuff and I'm not good at that kind of stuff. We've got a good thing going here. Do you really want to push something like this?"

[Hailey Nichols]

Did she want to do this now? Hailey thought about it as she pressed her lips together, but she wasn't given enough time to answer before Theo spoke again. Things should be okay between them, but the more he spoke,the more she felt like an idiot. How many times did she have to be burned from love? First Danny. Then Vincent. And now possibly Theo. As much as she wanted to admit she changed and she was going to take things into her own hands, she couldn't help but feel helpless in front of Theo. She couldn't make eye contact with him. Here was love coming and ruining a relationship, again.

She swallowed before she muttered, “Yeah, you're right.” She could feel herself tear up, but she couldn't let Theo see her like this. “Just forget I said it.” Then she moved to lay down again, making every effort to make sure Theo didn't see her eyes and the tears that were escaping from them.

[Theo Dean]

Forget she said it? How could you just forget someone said something like that? The answer was that you couldn't. It was out there now and no matter how much Hailey wanted to, ignoring it was obviously not going to help. This was why love always complicated things and Theo couldn't understand why it was so important to have that kind of drama involved in what he and Hailey had been sharing.

"Come on Hailey that's not fair." He said as he watched her roll over in bed. He knew he was probably just inviting more punishment but neither of them would be getting any sleep tonight if they left things like this. He just wanted her to see his side. It wasn't like this was easy for him. "It's not something that either of us can just ignore. Damn it Hailey what am I suppose to do? Just talk to me."

[Hailey Nichols]

Everything could've been much simpler if they just forgot about it. However, nothing is ever that simple. Her breathing was shaky as she laid there on her side and tried to will herself not to cry. She couldn't cry in front of him. Not over a boy. Not over a simple rejection of love. Not again. She cringed a bit as Theo was rejecting her idea of just forgetting about it. Her face scrunched up as she took a deep breath. "Do you know how hard it is for me? To say I love you?" She decided it was time faced the music as she rolled back over and looked at Theo as she sat up slightly. "The last time I said it to anyone, I was turned into a jackalope. Time before that? He broke my heart and I joined the hunters." She closed her eyes as she tried not to break down in tears and not get choked up about it. "I don't know why I even allow myself to fall in love. It never ends well." She opened them back up as she looked at Theo. "And I'm not asking you to say them back, just please don't... leave me..." she said as her voice cracked and she ended her sentence in a whisper.

[Theo Dean]

Honestly he didn't know what he expected from this. Hailey was obviously upset which was perhaps the damndest part. He couldn't understand why love was such a big deal. It had never gotten him anywhere and obviously it had never gotten Hailey anywhere either except being turned into a horny bunny. Then again as Hailey began to speak he realized that was just the thing. She was putting a lot of faith in him, probably more faith than he deserved. The only problem was that not even he was sure that was a good idea.

Hailey had been through a lot and even though some of what she said could have gone to prove his point of love being a bad thing he found he didn't really want to argue the point. In fact, he was feeling pretty crummy for some reason or another and her being so upset wasn't helping. "Hailey, I never said I was going to leave you." He sighed and ran another hand through his hair. "I didn't think of it like that but I wasn't trying to hurt you more than you already have been. That's why I don't want to tell you something that I may not be able to follow through on..." He was doing it again. He was trying to distance himself from the issue like he had always done but that wasn't what he wanted to do this time.

Fighting against his flight instincts he visibly shook his head and looked at her again hoping to maybe say at least one thing right in all this mess. "Listen, I do care about you Hailey and I'm not trying to jump ship. That's kind of new for me and I'm not sure what to think about that...While I may not be sure if I can say those words yet I'll try and figure it out okay? I know it may not be exactly what you want to hear but you've got to give me something. Until then...you don't have to worry about me leaving you. Until then I'm yours okay? Just give me some time to figure things out."

[Hailey Nichols]

Hailey could feel it. Another relationship was ending because of her stupidity. She really should have learned by now that things really didn't work out when she fell in love. She was waiting for the rejection as she tried to keep herself from crying and visibly shaking. But that rejection never came.

She looked up at Theo with a look of shock. He wasn't going anywhere? He wasn't saying the same three words back to her, but she wasn't expecting that either. He needed time to figure things out. She pressed her lips together before she slowly nodded her head. “I can… I can live with that,” she said with a slight smile as she reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Thank you.”

[Theo Dean]

Every bone in his body was screaming at him right now. This was not him. He was not the guy to stay. He was not the guy to get tied down. He had never made even this kind of commitment to someone and yet he liked Hailey. He liked her a lot. He liked her and he didn’t want to hurt her especially not like this. Still, he was not a new person, at least he didn’t think so, and years of bad habits made him wonder if he could even make good on his promise to her.

Hailey seemed content with his offer though and that, for the moment at least, was good. She could live it and he supposed they were going to find out if he could live with it too and if he could…well maybe that was an answer to his question of what this was.

“Thanking me?” Theo gave a little chuckle and moved closer to Hailey who he thought was looking quite vulnerable at the moment. He put an arm around her and held her close. “Those other times really did a number on you huh? Look, I don’t know what happened in the past but it’s done with now. Nobody is going to turn you into a jackalope this time and well, so far I think we’ve got a pretty good thing going. You don’t have to be afraid of it. Just enjoy it okay?”

[Hailey Nichols]

Everything wasn't ideal, but it was livable. She could live with a boy who didn't know if he returned the feelings or not, but it sure beat getting dumped right off the bat. Or getting turned into a jackalope for that matter. It was better than any of that so Hailey was willing to work with a little compromise. If Theo decided that he didn't return those feelings, they would cross that bridge once they got there. He put an arm around her and pulled her close. She leaned up against him and put her head on his shoulder as she glanced up at him slightly. She wanted to believe what he was telling her, but she had a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that she shouldn't. That she couldn't. She'd been burned so many times, why trust him?

But she managed to push those thoughts off to the side as she smiled slightly as she nodded her head. "Okay," she said as she picked up her head to kiss his cheek. "I will."

[Theo Dean]

This moment was getting too emotiony for Theo’s liking. There had already been arguing and crying and now they were dangerously close to talking about their deep personal feelings. Talks like that were about things that he wasn’t comfortable with and never went well. Fortunately the crisis seemed to be averted for now and that meant that maybe things between them could go back to being okay for now. At least he hoped so. His experience still told him that the L word was never a good thing but they would just have to see how things turned out.

For now though he thought he needed to get his mind off of everything that had happened and he bet Hailey could use a little distraction too. “That’s good to hear Hailey because if you aren’t enjoying it then I want to hear about it.” He gave her another reassuring squeeze before flopping back on the bed and bringing her with him. “You know, speaking of enjoying things I’ve always heard that the best thing about making it through a fight is that the makeup sex is pretty wild. I think we could definitely use something to help us work off some of that nervous energy don't you.”

[Hailey Nichols]

Maybe things were a little intense between the two of them, but everything seemed to be calming down as Theo flopped back onto the bed and brought her along with him. She readjusted herself in his arms to the position she was in before everything went down. She welcomed the idea of sleep, but it didn't look like it was going to happen. At least, not yet.

A smirk crept onto her face as she lifted her head up and propped herself up slightly. “Ooh really?” she asked innocently as she moved herself on top of him. “We'll have to explore that, won't we?” And with that, she made sure that things were really made up between the two of them.