Lost But Never Found

[Lucah Ivaskov]

Returning from Romania had been a very tiresome trip. Refusing for his father to pay for the first class ticket, Lucah had settled for coach and regretted it immensely. Whoever thought that taking money from those who had it was a bad thing...had never sat in coach with a screaming baby, unruly children and old people that talked and talked and talked about their golden days. He'd ultimately decided he would never, ever ride coach again and that if his father offered to pay for something, dammit he was going to take the money and run. It was partially his anyway. And then there was the luggage fiasco that nearly happened. Lucah remembered again why he had isolated himself from people for so long. Most of them were so stupid.

However, his sour mood wasn't directly related to his poor trip. There was also the matter of his father wanting him to branch out to Pilot Ridge with a club of his own. Not even finished with college, yet his father thought it would be a good idea to add running a club to his list of nonsense that he had to deal with. It had been his mistake telling Dimitri that the burlesque club he worked at had gone under. It wasn't like he had even made a big deal out of it. The whole thing just came pouring out of Dimitri that he wanted Lucah to do something useful with his time out in Vermont. Lucah was surprised his father had even given him the chance to think things over, factor in all of the time he'd need to invest in the club as well as classes.

And then, there was the matter of Callie.

Despite his sour mood, the rough ride home and the career move his father was trying to make for him, the first thing on his mind when he got back to Vermont hadn't been about the club, it had been Callie. Things had drifted with them and though he had an inkling as to why, he didn't want to leave things the way they were. Not after all of the failed attempts before her. His time in Romania, with Jezebel on break and at home to offer him some advice, he found himself wanting to at least see her. Maybe talk to her. Jez told him to reach out and that's exactly what he wanted to do.

The lake was the only place that he thought would be best for this reunion. A place with a nice memory of them, with some meaning to it. Also a place with less people, due to the chill in the air. Lucah sat at their spot, dressed casually in a dark blue t-shirt and bermuda shorts, his hair a ruffled mess. And he waited, hoping that this whole reaching out thing wouldn't back fire.

[Calliope Gallo]

It had taken some time, but Callie was finally starting to feel like herself again. After so much time worrying and stressing over the things she had and hadn't done, she'd found the means to rebuild herself from the shattered mess of her own creation. Her frequent talks with Chester and even Carleigh had helped her immensely through the difficulty and the downfall of what it was she had with her former friend.

And now Lucah was back. Callie had honestly wondered if she ever had a hope of seeing him again. Things had been so sudden and now, where they were was as much a mystery as why he'd left in the first place.

When she heard from him, she was genuinely happy to hear his voice and to think of being able to rest her gaze on him again. The place he asked her to meet him was perfect, and although she felt nervous she went anyway. Because above all, he was back, and she had missed him dearly.

Running her hand through her hair, she settled it as it was and looked up. Immediately she noticed him - sitting where they had many times over the course of their relationship - and she smiled.

"Hey," She greeted, but she didn't sit. She offered her hands to him. She wanted him close, and she'd kiss him the moment he complied.

[Lucah Ivaskov]

Lucah glanced over his shoulder when he heard her walking towards him. He couldn't believe how much anxiety he felt. He was nervous, worried about how things were going to go between them. Things had been uncomfortable for him ever since his drunken stupidity all those months ago. He still wasn't quite sure where they stood on that dilemma and overall in their relationship. His feelings hadn't changed towards her, he wasn't sure if they ever would. He cared very deeply for her and he wanted her to always be there with him.

When he saw her, his heart fluttered and his stomach twisted. She was of course as beautiful as he remembered, maybe more so. The closer she got, the more he felt her body heat and the comfort that came with it. Despite his distaste of heat, he always found it comforting from her because it wasn't sickeningly warm, she was just the amount of warm for him. Feeling her near, it made his anxiety ease the slightest bit and he took a deep breath. This was it, she was here.

Callie stopped in front of him, hands held out for him and he hesitated the slightest bit before taking them both in his own and standing. As he stood, he looked down at her and couldn't stop his hand before it reached up to brush against her cheek. Lucah smiled and squeezed her hand, "Hello there."

[Calliope Gallo]

There was a brief sliver of a moment where Callie received nothing but a look from Lucah. She wondered if he could see right through her, but then she knew she wore a definite look of gratitude for his appearance. Despite everything, she well and truly had missed him so imperatively. He was beautiful. Wonderful. Practically perfect.

His hands felt cool within her own. She realised then that she missed his naturally cooler connotations; the way his hands carried slight warmth after they'd been in hers. Already, his fingertips were a touch warmer as they brushed across her cheek.

She squeezed his hand in return, letting the beat of her heart flutter as she heard his voice. She missed his voice, too.

Leaning up, the blonde tilted her head and pressed her lips against him. Softly. Delicately. Like such a simple act conveyed more than something with heated passion ever could. At least, that's how it'd always seemed between them. The corner of her mouth twitched into something of a smile, but her insides felt like they were twisting together.

"I missed you." She offered anyway.

[Lucah Ivaskov]

The look in her eyes, the way she didn't hesitate in the slightest contact with him, it was all very surprising, yet not at the same time. For anyone besides Callie it would have been surprising because most of the people he'd dealt with in his time weren't like her at all. They immediately would have hated him for whatever he did, for leaving so much and for hoping that things would get better without much effort.

Lucah wasn't a hopeful person, in fact, he was the most hopeless person. Jez had gotten the faith and hope gene from their mother, he'd gotten the bitter aftertaste of his father's ideals. It wasn't that he didn't want to hope, he did, really, it just seemed next to impossible with his hopes constantly being tested and folding under the pressure. But his sister, she could withstand any test of faith and still come out as strong as ever. She had a faith in him he'd never dream of having for himself. Over the time he'd spent with her, he started finding things to hope for as well.

Like for this encounter to go better than he was expecting. And so far, he was getting pretty lucky with it.

Her lips, light and sweet against his, only solidified his faith in this love. His smile widened at her three words and he pressed his lips to her forehead, murmuring against her skin, "I missed you, too, dragă." Spending so much time at home, his accent had thickened again and he found himself going in and out of his native tongue.

"A trecut prea mult timp," he muttered to himself before shaking his head and laughing just the tiniest bit.

[Calliope Gallo]

At the smallest connection - his lips against her forehead - Callie couldn't help but smile. Faded were the stints of guilt and all that came along with it. Because at least for a spare set of moments, she was allowed to miss him. And he was allowed to miss her; to see her in a brighter light that she'd inevitably have to dim.

She offered a small breath of laughter in tandem with his - his divergent to another language was completely lost on her, but she understood it all the same. Though the words were lost, the tone in his voice was clear enough. And it wasn't as if she'd never taken a second to shift gears in the form of another language.

"You're back?" She asked, reeling back a few inches to look at him properly, "Like, back back?"