Two days had gone by since the incident.<br/><br/>Two days and it was almost like they were back to normal. It was odd to her how, in such a short amount of time, things could seemingly go back to how they were, but she wasn’t about to complain.<br/><br/>Eidhin was back to his usual self, more or less; a little more scarred than he had been before, but nothing overly bad. Her own guilt had even ebbed a bit as he pushed passed it and returned to his old, joking, “you’re short and smell funny” self. It was that that pushed her forward in her own issues to look ahead… Looking forward to the coming time, she was not, but there was no use dwelling on it, right? Dwelling would only make it worse, and she didn’t have anything she could do about except brace, so she tried to focus on the positive.<br/><br/>That morning when she awoke, it took her a bit to rise, coming out of--what she remembered to be a--confusing dream. The specifics were unclear, but the feeling remained poignant: confusion, attraction with a heavy dose of confusion. Shaking it off, she stretched, looking down a sleeping Eidhin, a light smile on her face. Then, because she was such a kind, loving person...she took her pillow and smacked Eidhin in the face with it before heading down into the kitchen.<br/><br/>“Get up, loser! We’re going swimming!”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Life had gone back to normal, or as close to normal as they could get. His dreams were still haunted at times, but for the most part he could sleep peacefully again. One side effect he noticed was that he slept in more, which was not really a bad thing. He just felt more rested when he did finally get out of bed, which is probably why he thought that Eilidh was often so lazy in the morning. <br/><br/>However, this morning she decided it would be cool to wake him, rather rudely. The pillow and exclamation were greeted with a soft growl and the blankets being pulled back over his head.</span><br/><br/>She didn’t think he’d just take it so she came back up from the kitchen, large glass of water in hand. “Eidhin...come on...do you really want me going out there by myself?” she asked, sitting next to him with a sigh, the pout audible in her words. “Pleeeeease?”<br/><br/>When he didn’t automatically comply, she yanked the blankets back and poured the water on his face. “Up and at ‘em, sunshine!”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">Cold air, followed by cold water, turned into a raging Eidhin. The growl was more of a roar as he sat up and went after Eilidh who had already jumped over the side of the rail and was out the door. Hot on her tail he could not help but smile and laugh at the ridiculous of it all. To think that just two days prior he was a mess and she was riddled with guilt. Now, he was all better, save for some scars on his back and they were back to the playful duo that they were. <br/><br/>“I am going to drown you!” he shouted and put in more effort to catch up to her.</span><br/><br/>She was up and over the rail before he could begin to see straight, running out the door in a full-tilt run. Jumping over logs, sliding along worn-in paths on the dead bed of leaves that were ever present, she kept at it. Hearing his laughter had her chuckling, nearly losing her footing and causing her to speed up before his call.<br/><br/>“Good luck with that!” she shouted back, picking up pace as she saw the cliff looming ahead.<span style="font-style: italic">Just a little further!</span>she urged herself.<span style="font-style: italic">Come on! You can beat him!</span><br/><br/>Then, because she felt cocky, she glanced back with a grin and decided some egging on was needed. “Come on, Grandpa! Is that all you’ve got?”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">When she looked over her shoulder she would see that though she had sped up he was putting his longer stride to work. <br/><br/>“Grandpa! Really?” he laughed and pushed a little harder so that he was right on her heels. “I am going to enjoy drowning your short little ass!” he taunted her and began to count off to himself as he prepared to tackle her right off of the Cliffside he knew she was heading for.</span><br/><br/>She anticipated his tackle, counting down to herself as she sprinted the last few meters toward the edge. Then, without warning, she grabbed hold of the last tree available and swung around. Her feet went off the ledge as she rotated around it (much to the chagrin of her hands) and continued around until she was safely back on the ground, booking it in the other direction.<br/><br/>“Gotta be smarter than that, gramps! I’m gettin’ old over here!”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000"> So close, he was going to get her and she was going to be sorry. Then as if she had eyes in the back of her head, as he jumped to grab her, she did some weird tree grab thing and just disappeared out of his sight. Which left him basically sky rocketing forward, right over that damn edge, exactly where he did not want to be at that moment.<br/> <br/>Instinct kicked in and he twisted in the air, his hand out stretched he just managed to catch the edge though he grunted as his body smacked the cliff face. He was only there for a moment, before he pulled himself up and was back on the ground heading after her.<br/> <br/>“Gonna have to be faster to beat this old man!” he teased her.</span><br/><br/>“Gonna have to be faster than that to overtake me,<span style="font-style: italic">old man!</span>” she shouted back with a grin, running along the side of the cliff’s face.<span style="font-style: italic">Tree, tree, I need another tree!</span>Her thoughts were frantic, filled with excitement and a hint of laughter at overtaking Eidhin at his own game. So, when she spotted the tree with low enough branches, she leapt, hastily making a climb up as fast as she could. “Can’t drown me in a tree! Can’t yank me down without hurting me, either! So, joke’s on you!”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000"> Now she was apparently like a cat, which only amused him further. “I could always climb better than you!” he shouted and jumped clear up past the lower branches she had used. “I don’t need to yank you down to get you where I want,” he said with complete confidence as he climbed until he was even with her in the tree.<br/> <br/>“So…how do you want this to end? I can just come over there and get you…or we can just jump into the water together? You have to admit that it will be one heck of a jump from up here, right?” he said with a grin. “And really, a tree? What are we cats now?” he asked with a chuckle.</span><br/><br/>“Yes, really, a tree!” she shot back. “And I think your memory is horribly askew. You didn’t always climb better than I did…You’d have to go outside to manage that, which you didn’t unless I dragged you. This fresh air must have gotten to you.” With a grin, she glanced over toward the cliff’s edge, noting it really would be quite the jump if they jumped from there.<br/><br/>Then again…he could try to get her and fail…wouldn’t be too hard to evade him, right? Not as though he could really do much…his weight alone would break some of the branches up there, whereas she had more leeway. “Hmmmm…To make you come get me, or jump in willingly…?” A wink was given before attempting to climb more in his direction. “After you?”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000"> He did not really trust her, not with how she had been this morning, but he figured he would try and trust her. So, he shifted his weight a bit to balance more on one of the branches and turned his back to her.<br/> <br/>“Alright,” he said as he held out his hand. “Let’s do this!” he said with a smile, his voice held all of the excitement of the moment, even if there was a bit of fear for what she might try to do.</span><br/><br/>There was some debate about pushing him over and watching him flail, but she decided against it. At this new height, if he fell wrong, he could break several bones hitting branches.<span style="font-style: italic">So much for that amusing image…</span>she thought, taking his hand. “Alright, on the count of three!” Pausing, she shifted her own weight. “Oooone…Twooooo…”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000"> “Three!” he shouted and jumped with her hand in his own.<br/> <br/>The sensation of falling was thrilling at first, only to become that weird sick feeling as your stomach went up into your chest. A scream left his lips, something that he could not control just from the sheer height that they had fallen. Just before they hit the water, he straightened his legs, lest he end up with a black and blue ass from hitting the water.<br/> <br/>Cold water greeted them as they plunged several feet down into the water. It was only when they stopped their descent that he released her hand to swim to the surface. As soon as he broke the surface he threw back his head and howled loudly. It was a howl of joy, of happiness and contentment at just being who he was and spending it with the only person he truly cared about in the whole world.</span><br/><br/>To say that she didn’t have second thoughts about jumping from such a height would have been a lie. She definitely had second thoughts, a lot of second thoughts even as she counted down to zero. But, she couldn’t yank her hand back as he jumped so she went along with it, eyes squeezing shut as they plummeted down.<br/><br/>At some point, a scream loosed, loud and petrified against her will, barely opening her eyes in time to see the water fast approaching. Her legs straightened and her screams were silenced by the water enclosing around her. Deep down, they finally slowed up, able to start swimming back to the surface where she was greeted with a happy howl, a laugh released in response. Then, with a splash in his direction, she started swimming toward shore, suddenly regretting the feel of the heavy sweatshirt to swim in.<br/><br/>“So, was this such a bad wake up call?” she asked while she swam, a few stray strands of hair stuck to her forehead. “Still want to drown me?”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">The splash he took with nothing but a smile and while she swam to shore he laid back and just floated for a bit. <br/><br/>“No, but I still plan on drowning you at some point,” he teased his eyes now closed so that he could enjoy the sensation of complete relaxation. “I mean you have to drown brats every now and again to make sure that they know their place,” he snickered. “What do you want to do tonight?” he asked still on his back. “We have been cooped up for a few days and maybe a night out would be nice. What do you think?”</span><br/><br/>Some remarks weren’t worth her time...one such remark being drowning brats so they knew their place. It earned him an eye roll he couldn’t see, but nothing else, feet touching down on the cool, malleable mud beneath her feet, sinking in as she stood to the full of her height. But, as she was pulling her sweatshirt--yes, hers as he never wore it anymore--over her head, his remark about a night out caught her attention, halting her movements and causing her to look back at him with a worried expression.<br/><br/>“...You want to go out?” she repeated, voice carrying easily over the cool, glassy lake. “Wouldn’t that be a...bad idea, given how things have gone without my added…” Her voice tapered off as her hands grasped in the air for a word that didn’t sound so bestial, so animalistic. “...Situation?”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">At the tone in her voice he sat up to tread water and allow for them to have some eye contact. “I think if we are careful it will be fine. I mean, I won’t be acting like an ass to Coilin and he should not be doing that to me either. That is if we even run into him while we are out,” he swam a little closer to her. “So, what do you say? Want to give it a try?” <br/><br/>Truthfully, he was scared about this idea, but in the same breath he wanted/needed to get out. She did too. It was not going to be healthy for either of them to just remain locked down in the cabin, not when they just dealt with such a trauma.</span><br/><br/>No amount of positive thinking had her really wanting to go out. After what Faoladh had said, she was going to turn into mega slut, ready to jump everyone’s bones; an equal opportunity humper. Add the incident that just happened with someone already catching her scent and he wanted to go out? It wasn’t him that would be wafting his scent everywhere for the world to catch hold of…<br/><br/>Her face clearly said she wasn’t feeling going out, arms going about her torso to hold herself while she thought about it further. “...Yeah, yeah I suppose we could give it a try,” Eilidh finally answered with a shrug. The tone of her voice was an attempt at more willingness than she felt, but she’d try it; She didn’t want to be the reason that he stayed cooped up. “Any particular place you want to go? Or time?”<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF0000">“Hey…” he swam over to her and completely got out of the water. Already, he could tell with her body language and how she held herself that she was anything but comfortable right now. “Look, our grandfather is an asshole and you should not have to be afraid to live because of him,” he said before he hugged her close. “What happened the other day does not mean it will happen again. I have been checking the trails and making sure that there is no one near us at all. If you really don’t want to go and would rather stay home that is perfectly fine. I can see about getting a portable generator and a television. Then we can watch some movies and eat some popcorn. How does that sound?” he asked while he held her, his hands moved up and down her arms and back in an effort to comfort her.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">No…</span>she mentally groaned as he swam over. The last thing she wanted was to have him changing his plans because he felt bad that she was uncomfortable. No amount of reassurance on his part was going to change how she was envisioning herself for the coming heat. Her grandfather had been around long enough, was an alpha, had seen this...He could already smell it when he’d visited. Then, three days after, another caught her scent.<br/><br/>It wasn’t until he held her close, hands going up and down her back, her arms, that the dream she’d had came back in spurts. Suddenly that worry was replaced with confusion...Vivid confusion. Eidhin; She’d dreamt of Eidhin. Had he not hugged her, she might not have even remembered it, but now that she had, she wasn’t sure what to say or how to react. Part of her liked the closeness, while the other was horrified at herself for allowing it to go on for as long as it had been.<br/><br/>Shaking her head, she pulled back with another shrug and a light smile that she hoped was genuine. “No, a night out could be good...You’re right; I shouldn’t have to be afraid; You know I have an affinity for overreacting and overthinking…”<span style="font-style: italic">Even if the signs are already there and I’m apparently having dreams about you, so it’s not exactly unjustified.</span>“...So we’ll go out; What harm could it do?”