Time Warp: Don't Let Me Go

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Set 2017

Late night date night, always her favorite times. It meant relaxing from school, from work, from everything else and just spending time with someone that she simply couldn't imagine not having in her life. So many things had happened between them, more than she liked to count or could count for that matter. It had been rough and insanely brutal to both of them a few years ago and what had suddenly changed between them, she wasn't quite sure she knew. She couldn't dwell on the past though, not anymore, not when she was so happy. It was refreshing being so content with the way her life was panning out. She had accepted her mother's death and was over the grieving. She forgot all about the former 'love of her life' who ditched out on her. Her father was part of her life and slowly becoming more important to her. And she didn't feel like the world was falling apart anymore.

All in all, life was pretty great.

These weekly date nights she had with Lani always found some way to be different than the last. She always found something new to tell him even when they spoke every day. She always found ways of missing him, even when she saw him ever week. And she hadn't felt the need to tell him how much she loved him because she knew that it was implied and that he knew he was the most important person in her world. It was all part of the lessons she'd learned from him. From being put through hell only to come out of it stronger. He'd helped her in ways that she would never be able to explain to him and she had been clean for three years, with no looking back.

Tonight, they were spending their date night at his place and she was cooking dinner. Honestly, she hadn't cooked a whole lot since she was younger, but she still knew how and was quite proud of her abilities. Man, what couldn't she do? Okay, no, she didn't really think that way, but she kind of did. With grocery bags in her arms, she walked up the steps towards the door and kicked her foot against it to signal that she was there. "Lani, open uppp, my arms are gonna fall offff," She exaggerated a bit, but she honestly felt like she was going to drop the groceries at any second. "Hurry, hurry, hurryyy."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was cleaning, as per usual, in preparation of Adrianna’s visit. He set the vacuum back in the closet and more or less shuffled the clutter on the table into semi-sensible piles. Lani had graduated from the community college and was working in the training program at Hammel to be a power trainer. It had taken a lot of work but Lani had finally managed to wrangle some sort of control of his power. It was a long process but it had been worth it as he had never been so content and controlled. His power didn’t scare him anymore. He was still using it to steal and keeping his skills sharp but he wanted to have something to do after he could no longer run along rooftops. It had been humiliating at first, Hammel’s faculty had all but laughed in his face when he applied. Luckily for Lani he still had connections and he was determined to prove himself. His grades and recommendations from the community college helped and a few months in and he hadn’t been late once.

Adrianna was midway through school and she was being successful. It was a wonderful change of events. Lani flopped down on his couch and the trio of kittens, now cats, he and Odion had decided now that Lani was down it was time to climb all over him. All save Shadow. Shadow had never been the touchy feely cat that Darshay and LJ were and ended up rubbing Lani’s arm on his way to the couch arm where he settled and just watched. Darshay wriggled into his lap and LJ, luckily having warmed up to him after a few years snuggled against his legs. He smiled as he scratched heads. After Odion had left Lani had retrieved the cats from Avinea and with three cats was very close to becoming a crazy cat man. He was happy. Now with Adrianna there were no secrets, or at least no life altering secrets. It had taken a long time to recover from Odion but Lani realized eventually that with honesty he and Adrianna could last.

Lani heard Adrianna at the door and smiled brightly. He moved the kittens and opened the door on his way. As his power opened the door his hands took her bags. Lani leaned forward to give Adrianna a kiss. “Hi,” he said with a grin and carried her bags inside setting them on the counter. If a few years ago someone had said he’d be here he would have laughed. He had Adrianna had broken up and he’d dated Odion for a long while and then he’d been broken and he didn’t want anything to do with love. He’d had a few brief affairs after Odion but somehow his mind and his heart kept going back to Adrianna. She had taught him what it was to truly love, and he had after a while of fighting and digging in his heels he had finally relented that fact. Once he had the honesty became easier, his heart became warmer and the fear started to wash away. With free hands he snatched Adrianna up in his arms and held on tightly. “How was your day?”

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna couldn't deny that she was proud of Lani for where he was in life. They'd both done what they needed to in order to be successful and things were going fantastic. The control he had over his power, she knew played a big part in what he was doing now and from what she remembered of one of the stories he'd told her of a similar case of his ability, she knew he'd be able to take on whatever got thrown at him - literally. While he worked at Hammel to be a trainer, she was working at the House and took up a day job of teaching ballet for smaller children. The dance program at the uni wasn't all that bad really and she was quite pleased with how she'd improved in solo work and in the art of teaching dance, in fact, by now she figured she could even teach the worst of dancers - Lani. She had yet to try that again though because he always dug his feet in at the idea of dancing, really dancing and not just shuffling as he called it.

The door opened before she knew it and before the bags slipped out of her hands, he had them and leaned down to kiss her. Her face broke into a heart-warming smile and she found that she was having a little trouble breathing. It was normal for her to react that way when he kissed her though because he had always taken her breath away like that. "Hi back," She answered as she shut the door behind her and followed him inside. Adrianna wasn't surprised to find that he had straightened up, and she knew that he had because it was what he always did when she planned on coming over. As she followed him in, she saw the cats all scattered about. Little Darshay was curled up on the couch and Adrian scratched the cat's head before going to see what her boyfriend was doing.

To be honest, Adrianna was shocked by the way things had played out for her. Not so much with the aspects of her life, but rather the way things had played out in the love department. After breaking up with Lani, going onto Venn, being left by Venn several more times and then finally just giving up, she wasn't sure she'd ever find someone that she could mesh well with. Someone that could handle her and all of the baggage she had. Of course there had been a few guys that showed interest at work, but none of them clicked with her the way that Lani had when they first met. Lani had always been there with her through everything and vice versa. They helped each other become the people that they wanted to be and in the end, it became clear that she had always wanted him and that he soon came to realize that he wanted her as well. It had been one of the best days when he decided that he wanted to give their relationship another try. And she was fairly sure she'd never forget it.

He swept her up in his arms and she giggled as her arms slipped around his neck, "Dreadfully boring. I've been waiting forever to see you and it was such a painfully long time!" She smiled at the dramatic tone she took on and nuzzled his cheek, "I missed you and I swear that every single time I go to teach my dance class I'm reminded of you by one of the little boys that is taking it. He does the Lani shuffle." Adrianna laughed and stroked his cheek lightly after a while before looking up at his eyes, those beautiful gray eyes. "How was yours? Cleaned up a bit, I see," She smirked and kissed his cheek, her fingers traveling to the back of his neck, massaging it gently while she waited for his answer.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani had to admit he didn’t mind Hammel so much now that he was no longer trapped within its walls. Occasionally a stubborn punk would come in and in jest someone would suggest giving them to Lani to give him a taste of his own medicine. Lani didn’t know how many times he could apologize for being an ass before it would finally sink in. But slowly it was starting to sink in that he would never live down his high school years here. Lani was lowest on the totem pole and therefore had to earn respect and since he had spent two years being as disrespectful as possible he supposed this was deserved. Lani had to earn his respect and he was still struggling to do so. He didn’t know how to prove that he had changed or show the respect he had lacked years ago. However, Lani knew one of his biggest strengths is being able to relate to the kids here who were afraid of their powers. And the stubborn punks who thought they had it the worst, those were always fun. He was rather embarrassed about his high school years now. He was closest to a lot of them in age and he had a history here at Hammel for being well… insufferable.

A content smile crossed Lani’s face. He’d never been quite able to fully feel safe being himself around people but two people had seen his real face, one was long gone and one he had been foolish enough not to see. He had spent too long attempting to find himself or find a way to make himself better. He had spent so long hiding himself that he didn’t see what was right in front of him. Adrianna had always been there and he had constantly been running away from her, but somehow he kept gravitating back to her. Lani was surprised she had waited for him. Admittedly Lani had been visited by the green-eyed monster whenever Adrianna was seeing someone and he found himself often wondering if she was ever jealous when he was seeing someone. Lani was glad he’d cleaned, previously the apartment had been very much been a bachelor pad and dishes had been piling up rather high.

Adrianna had said she wanted to cook so Lani had made sure that the kitchen was clear of its usual clutter. Clutter that was now living in the living room and in several cabinets. Lani was glad Adrianna was cooking, every time Lani tried all hell broke loose. After one too many mishaps it had been decided that for the safety of everyone Lani should limit his cooking experiments. And Adrianna was a very good cook, Lani did not mind taking back seat. Besides he thought he was very good at multitasking of stirring and chopping. So long as Adrianna was in control nothing could go wrong. It was strange. Lani was a control freak and normally it was really hard for Lani to let someone else have control. Everything in Lani’s life was so meticulously planned and controlled that usually when things went wrong it threw Lani for a loop. Adrianna however demanded control in some aspects and letting go of that control had helped with the obsessive planning, just a little.

Lani smiled broadly eating up her compliment. “I know it’s so hard to be away from me,” he said with mock despair. He’d missed her too, he never thought that he could have something so normal and every new moment was still exciting and every old habit was just as thrilling as the first time it happened. Lani laughed, “Oh does he now? Good man,” He joked with a smile, he was terrible still, “Well, you are an amazing teacher and you got to him early. You’ll be able to straighten him out.” Lani was just an old dog unable to learn new tricks. Lani hummed with pleasure as she massaged his neck, he loved it when she did that, when the moment was right she could put him right to sleep, calm his anger and sooth his woes. “Cleaned, nah, it’s been like this all week,” he lied with a grin knowing she knew better than that. “It was good for the most part, there’s a new student in with a power we haven’t seen in a while so who got to be the Guiney Pig?” Lani pointed at himself, “The intern. So what happens? Adrianna, I don't remember a damn thing,” Lani cried with a sigh, “Turns out the kid has hypnosis and – according to Jack – wanted to take over the world.” Lani put his head down on Adrianna’s shoulder. “I hate being the intern.”

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Oh if Lani thought he'd been struck with jealousy, he had no idea. Adrianna had never been a jealous girl, she was genuinely happy when someone found someone else that they got along well with. But when it came to Lani...all hell broke loose in her mind and she very nearly assaulted several people that got close to him. As the best friend, it was clearly her right to be concerned with who he dated, just as he was. The way she had seen it, no one had been good enough for him. No one ever would be if it wasn't her. She thought about it a lot, even when she'd been dating as well. It was just not an easy thing, watching him with someone else, wishing it had been her even if she had thought the day would never come again. Adrianna had been sure that nothing would change, that she'd be miserable and keep running herself into the ground, so for it to finally work out, things all seemed to go up from there.

"Oh psh, it's harder being away from me, and you know it," She giggled. Being apart from him had never set well with her, not when they were dating and not when they had been just friends. Even if it was her own doing, avoiding him for one reason or another, she had been torturing herself. When she wasn't with him, the darkness loomed over her, but it all disappeared when she knew she'd see him soon. He was the light that pulled her through and that would always keep her from drowning. It made her happy to know that they were what helped each other. He kept her above water, and she got him back on the right track, the track of success and doing something that she knew he'd be happy doing. Of course it had been hell to get to this point, but it had all been worth the bull shit. "I do not need two of you, one is perfectly enough to keep me on my toes, Mr. Hunter." Adrianna snorted at him and smiled because clearly if she had straightened out one, she could straighten out the other. Especially with her student being young, she knew he was right. "I hope so, the world would be a better place with more people like me who can straighten out the troublemakers," She kissed his cheek and smirked.

Adrianna stroked his hair as he told her about his day and the troubles of being an intern. It took all she had not to laugh. Of course they were going to put him through that stuff, he did sort of deserve it after some of the havoc he wrecked back when they were in high school. His head rested on her shoulder and she turned her head to the side to kiss his temple, "My poor Guinea pig, the intern. It'll get easier, you know it will. I mean this isn't the first time you've handled a difficult case and of all the people that work there, you should know how to handle a kid like that. You were that kid, remember?" She smiled tightened her arms around his neck. "Maybe after dinner I'll give you a massage to make it all better, okay? Now c'mon, I need help with the chopping and stirring since we both know that that's all you can be trusted with when cooking," She snickered and pulled back, pecking him on the lips before skipping into the kitchen to start emptying grocery bags and setting things up accordingly.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s eyes lit up with an impish light and he shrugged. “You right, I mean I’m always with me anyways,” he teased not altogether sure that wasn’t going to get him a swat. Lani was oblivious and had never noticed Adrianna’s jealousy. He knew very well that if they were together or not he would not be where he was today without her. He was still highly cynical and wasn’t betting everything on this relationship yet, they’d broken once and there was nothing to say they couldn’t again, and he’d thought he’d found ‘the one’ in Odion and he’d been wrong. He never voiced his fears but he had a feeling Adrianna knew they were there. She had that ability to look right through him. Cynical or not he loved Adrianna and he was willing to take risks if they were with her, he hadn’t been let down yet. Well, mostly she hadn’t killed him yet and that had to count for something.

“Good,” Lani smirked, “I can’t imagine how bad it would look if I had to knock out a kid.” he knew that would get a laugh out of her. Lani might be high strung and excitable but he wasn’t violent. Especially around children. As much as he might boast he had changed, he’d calmed and no longer went looking for fights he couldn’t win. He didn’t know how she’d done it but somehow she had knocked sense into him. “I’m right,” Lani told her, he was sure of that. He grinned slyly at her and gave her a cocky expression. “Who says I’ve been straightened out?” He challenged and pinched her behind. Never was there a better way to make Lani misbehave than to tell him he’d been good. He wrapped his arms around her and a wide smile cracked through his exterior and he trapped her briefly in his arms. He took the kiss on the cheek and raised her for one on the lips.

Lani loved it when Adrianna’s magic hands worked away his woes. She very much had a talent at that. If he didn’t know what her power was he’d be convinced that this was part of it. Lani loved her all the more for her sympathetic words. He winced a little bit at the conclusion. “Ugh, believe me they don’t let me forget it. God, I can’t even believe I used to be such an ass.” Lani nodded against her shoulder and protested when she started to pull away. He returned the kiss with a smile and stuck his tongue out at her. “Chopping and stirring I can do,” he agreed mildly and smiled as he watched her. “What are we having?” He asked getting nosy as he watched the ingredients come out. He peered over her shoulder into the bag with interest. So maybe it was just an excuse to get closer to Adrianna but he was also really interested what she had in her magic bag of food that would magically be made into something edible. He really didn’t know how he had missed the skill but he really couldn’t boil water without destroying something. He was really lucky he had someone who could cook because he would either be living off of take out or starving.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna narrowed her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out, "You're such a butt." She smiled fondly at him and rolled her eyes. The relationship was going well right now, better than what she might have expected for it being their second time. Much like him though, she wasn't betting on anything. Her hopes had been picked up and thrown down more times than she wanted to count and she knew that this relationship could end just like the others. But she had faith in Lani and she had faith in herself that even if things didn't work out, they'd always have each other. She was stronger now that she knew she didn't need him there to pick her up if she fell, she just liked knowing that he was there to offer a hand if she ever chose to take him up on it. With this strength she acquired, she wasn't putting so much pressure on the relationship anymore. She'd learned that lesson and from it, she learned that she just needed to relax and go with it. And have fun with the man she loved instead of dwelling on the bad.

"Oh right because you're so big and bad, puh-leeze. I can still kick your butt," She winked at him and giggled again. Lani wasn't as big and bad as he let on. Not that he wasn't capable of being, but to a child, he wasn't going to be violent. And they both knew it. He wasn't the hot head he used to be, picking fights with anyone that challenged him, and that was something she was thankful for. Picturing Lani violent at all had always been tough for her, but she knew when it came down to it, he was still her teddy bear. He pinched her butt and she squeaked. Yup, still her troublesome teddy bear. "Okay, fine. You're soooo wicked, a real troublemaker," She said through narrowed eyes before bursting into laughter. Her arms tightened around his neck and she smiled into the kiss on the lips. "I wouldn't have you any other way, you know that. One of us has to be a little crazier than the other," She winked and nipped his lower lip with a smirk.

"You can't believe you used to be an ass?" She giggled again and pressed her lips to his temple. "It'll get better, baby. Just get through the sucky intern part and then you'll be a big bad trainer. One that everybody fights over and that the adorable teenagers hit on," She gave him a tight squeeze before pulling away and heading to the kitchen. The way he stuck his tongue out at her made her laugh because he clearly picked it up from her. "You'll see when it's all put together," She answered his question as he looked over her shoulder to find several different ingredients to an Italian dish that Mags had taught her the last time she visited. "Grandma Mags suggested it, said it keeps the men happy," Adrianna looked over her shoulder at him and smiled brightly.

[Lani Hunter]

“A butt?!” Lani exclaimed in mock shock, clearly having endless fun giving Adrianna a hard time. It wasn’t like Lani wasn’t aware of his ability to be insufferable, it was more that he’d gradually gotten to the point where he didn’t care. Not unless he was making her really upset, then he had learned to back off and come back with his tail between his legs and a bundle of flowers. It was so similar and yet different than the first time they’d dated. Lani was worried that they might be the couple that kept breaking up and getting back together but they were both much different than they were a few years ago. For one, Lani was now, more or less, a sort of kind of not really law(ish) abiding thief. For another, Adrianna was much stronger than she had been and they were not pacing either, what happened was happening and there were no deadlines. The idea of love was still a terrifying idea, Lani was very much convinced it was possibly for her to just vanish one day, but he was slowly getting over that fear.

Lani pouted and narrowed his eyes at her. “Only cause I let you,” he muttered sullenly just enough over his breath for her to hear. It was only because it was very true, Adrianna was the scariest person on the planet when she was angry, he had no doubts she could very well kick his ass from here to California if she chose. “That’s better,” Lani said with a sly grin and a light of mischief in his eyes. He was happy here. He was happy with Adrianna. His smile grew into a genuine show of teeth following the kiss. He laughed good naturedly and hugged her tightly. “You’re the best,” he declared and snuggled into her hug. It was a trap and Lani was not falling for it. He was sure that Adrianna was the crazier of the two of them but he didn’t want to get into the competition of it because he knew he had a fair amount of crazy and bringing up that would only lead to arguments and he was over that whole phase of his life. He just wanted to live and he didn’t feel the need to make every little thing a battle.

Narrowing his eyes Lani glared at Adrianna, his usually menacing glare broken by a smile as she started to giggle. “You’re so mean to me,” he whined and hugged her tighter. The telekinetic took comfort in Adrianna’s encouragement. Lani barked a laugh, “I have a feeling I’m gonna be the one everyone dreads. I do not put up with shit. I mean I wrote the book on slacking. I’m not gonna let anyone get away with anything.” He smiled at the idea, partially because kicking the kids at Hammel into gear felt slightly like he was kicking his own teenage ass into action. He wouldn’t let someone make the same mistakes that he did. And he knew every trick in the book. Lani smiled as he leaned back against the counter and relented to the fact that he wasn’t going to know. Lani laughed brightly, he still had yet to meet this Grandma Mags but he heard a lot about her and he liked her already. “You know that’s just food in general right?” He chuckled and then opened and closed his hands in a beckoning gesture. “Alright, just tell me what to do and I got this.”

[Adrianna Carstyn]

"That's right! A butt, the biggest butt of all butts," She folded her arms across her chest with a firm nod. Adrianna melted into a smile though because she couldn't stay mad at him when they were playing around. Granted, if it was anything more serious, she damn well could stay mad at him. She'd done it a time or two, but nothing had really come up recently. The last time she could really remember being downright furious with him had been when he practically saved her life. Taking away her razors and getting her back on track. That had been a time in her life that she wasn't quite sure she ever wanted to live through again, let alone thinking about it in general. It was around that time that she knew she'd never be the same girl that she had been back when her and Lani tried dating the first time. For a while she thought that she'd lost herself completely and that she'd never get to be happy again. It had been in large part to Lani that she realized that she hadn't lost herself, if anything she found herself by going through such insane things. She found this strong girl that could face anything with a little help from her best friend and the one man in her life that had never completely ditched her. Did she love him? Yes, she always had, but she'd made the mistake of saying it too soon once, she didn't want to go through that again. And she definitely didn't want to be wrong.

Adrianna tapped his pouty lip, "You keep thinking that, hun." She smiled innocently at him and batted her eyelashes so that he simply couldn't keep up this pouting any longer. His slick grin made her heart flutter and she just internally rolled her eyes at herself. It was sad when even after having dated him already, he still made her melt. She didn't know what it was about his 'wickedness' that made him so hot, but she honestly couldn't imagine him without it. He wouldn't be Lani without it. She hugged him back and smiled wider, happy that he was smart enough not to fall for that little test of hers. Okay, Adrian was a woman, it was kind of what they did! Adrianna stroked his hair as she always loved doing because as well as soothing him, it soothed her. It was one of their things. They had a few tells in their relationship that she wouldn't give up for anything.

His glare made her eyes go wide with innocence (because she was just so full of it) until he broke into a smile. "I may be mean to you, but at least I make it up to you later," She smiled and nuzzled his cheek. He laughed at her theory of him becoming the most loved trainer and she shook her head during his view of things. "You are so not dreadful," She said firstly. "And all it'll take is this adorably cute eleven year old to bat their lashes at you for you to let them slack." Of course that didn't mean he was going to fall for it with the older ones, but c'mon, who could really get all evil and mean towards a cute, little eleven year old. Especially if they reminded him anything of Caroline. He simply wouldn't be able to do it, at least, she didn't think so. Talking about her grandmother (for all intensive purposes) was lifting. She loved that woman more than she could even explain because after Amelia got pregnant and left her own parents, she found Mags and Mags had given her a job and a life that helped the woman support herself and her baby. And after Amelia's death, Mags had helped Adrian face California and her home when she never thought she'd be able to again. Adrianna couldn't wait to take Lani to meet her. Soon, hopefully. "Fair point, Mr. Hunter. Alright, I need you to work on boiling water please and thank you," She smiled before getting a pot big enough for the pasta and handing it to him with a kiss on the cheek. "Do that and then once it's boiling pour the noodles in and I'll take care of it from there."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani laughed and bobbed his head as if finally understanding. “Oh, I see. Here I was worried it was medium range,” he gained a teasing smirk as an idea crossed his head, “But if we’re going to talk about nice looking butts.” He glanced suggestively over her shoulder. Lani liked this banter they had, it made it so that everything wasn’t completely sugar plums and rainbows. It made them real. In many ways Lani knew that if someone was holding them back it was him. He’d been so upset and so enraged after Odion broke up with him that he’d made promises to himself that kept him from getting closer. He had never anticipated getting back together with Adrianna. He had never anticipated falling in love. He had never expected that it would be so easy, so right with Adrianna. So often the dreaded ‘L’ word rested on the tip of his tongue but he never let it pass his teeth. That would be something like commitment and commitment was terrifying. But then again, how long would Adrianna wait until she got tired of his fear of commitment.

He smiled at her and shook his head. She had him there, while physically he could probably overpower her and with his telekinesis certainly. The crutch was that he wouldn’t. Never. He’d almost done it once or twice and he’d felt sick every time. It was that thoughtless part of his power, that terrifying creature that hid behind his face. Lani was glad he didn’t fall for her tricks, he had and then spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what he did wrong. By the time she explained it to him Lani either was very embarrassed or still had no idea why what he did or said was wrong. He’d learned quickly to pick up on her cues and avoid conflict. Admittedly sometimes he was at fault to goading her into an argument when he was angry about something.

Wrapping his arms around her, Lani smiled contently. If this was love he liked it. It wasn’t so scary. It was actually kind of nice, warm and like the hug they were sharing. Lani pulled away and crossed his arms and tipped his head so he was looking down his nose at her. He didn’t have to do much he’d ended up just a little taller than his dad and therefore taller than most of the people he knew. He knew it was true, it was those young ones, he had a soft spot for them. “Well, if you catch them early like that then they won’t have a chance to learn to be sneaky.” He protested. He liked to pretend he was a big and bad, take no excuses trainer, but Adrianna was right. It would take one sad child and he would be putty in their hands. At least until he learned he was being manipulated then he had no qualms running them up and down the training field. Lani wasn’t stupid and he caught onto the tricks quickly and he didn’t let them go. He might not be as harsh as he would be with an older kid but he would definitely cause trouble. And if there was one thing Lani was good at it was causing trouble. Lani laughed and released her to get started with the cooking. “Boiling water. I can do that.” He smiled wider and took the pot from her. He filled it and set it on the stove.

He turned it on and leaned against the counter and looked at his feet. He peeked up at Adrianna and just watched her as she got started. What had he done right to deserve this? "Adrianna, I," Lani said initially intent of letting out the 'L' word that rested on his teeth, but he quickly chickened out so he adjusted, "What do you think about moving in together?" Lani's mind blanked as he realized what he'd just suggested. Did he just ask her to move in? He did. Well, that was not as bad as the 'L' word but it was certainly a large step. But they had been dating for a little over a year now. Perhaps this was the step that would make saying 'I love you' easier.