meaningful conversations -lysander-

Whenever Nora was stressed out about something (which was often), whether it be work, or Jack, or anything else, she knew she could always talk to Lysander about it. He'd joke and be a goof and make her laugh and forget whatever it was she was worried about. That was one of the reasons she liked him so much. In the past, dating had always felt like such a chore. Just another thing in her life to worry about. But being with Lysander was just the easiest thing in the world.

Right now, the thing she was worried about was a lot bigger than work, or Jack, or anything else. Not long ago her home eilemaiden, Earalas, had declared war on Deilig and started raising an army to defend the eilemaiden against any possible attacks. And an attack had come...not to Earalas, but to Redfern Academy. Redfern! A school full of children. And her sister, who thank the gods had been alright and was now home safely. There was a lot of confusion and no official report yet on who was responsible, but rumors swirled that it had been Deilig, their new wartime enemy.

"I can't believe my home eilemaiden is at war," she sighed to Lysander, snuggled up next to him on his couch. She wondered if neutral cities like Dahlin would be safe in a war. "My whole family lives there. And your sister. What if something happens?"

There hadn't been any actual fighting yet, but all the newspapers were speculating about a possible attack from the north. Families who lived on the northern border had even been warned of possible evacuation, though thankfully Nora and her family lived on the southern coast.

Lysander was absentmindedly drawing circles into Nora's shoulder as he listened to her express her worries. He couldn't believe what was happening in their world, and all of those poor children and their families. Most of the time, he tried not thinking about what was going on, but sometimes these things couldn't be ignored.

Nora wrote:"My whole family lives there. And your sister. What if something happens?"

Lysander sighed. Even though he hated Hadley, he also trusted him. He knew that he would protect Remy and their unborn baby with all he had. He sure did wish that Remy didn't live there though...

"I think that the Overloridian there knows what he's doing," Lysander responded, somewhat hesitantly. "But I do wish Remy wouldn't live there anymore..."

Nora frowned. "Yeah. I sure hope so," she said. "Well, your sister is an advisor, right? I suppose she'd be one of the first to know if things got too dangerous to stay there." Nora wondered if things did get bad, would her family stay or leave? Perhaps they could go to Cuir temporarily, it wasn't as though they didn't have the money.

"Hopefully this whole mess will be over by the time your little niece or nephew arrives," she said, deciding to change the subject. All this war talk was depressing, and she had come here to relax. "You must be excited to be an uncle soon!" She smiled at him.

Lysander automatically smiled when Nora brought up his future niece or nephew. He really was excited. Never in a million years did he ever expect this, but here he was, ready to be an uncle! If somebody had gone to the past, when Lysander was still a young clio moving from one foster home to the next, and told him that someday he'd be this happy, he'd never believe them.

"Yeah," he responded, happy to change the subject. "I really am excited!"

His hand on her shoulder traveled up to her head, where he began to play with her hair. "I never thought I'd be this happy."

Nora turned and snuggled into Lysander, laying her head on his shoulder. "Never?" she asked curiously. While expecting a niece or nephew was certainly exciting, she wasn't sure why Lysander wouldn't have thought he could be this happy about anything else before. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really know all that much about his past, or how happy or not happy it was. All she knew about him was that he had been estranged from his sister, and recently connected with her. "Why do you say that?"

Lysander opened his mouth and then closed it again. He realized then that he never really talked about his past with Nora. He didn't really like talking about it, but he and Nora had been together for about four or so months now, he felt comfortable enough to share it with her.

"Well," he said, with a heavy sigh. "I was actually an orphan, but I was never adopted."

Lysander went on to tell her all about his life growing up as an orphan and jumping from one family to the next. He talked about his resentment toward his birth mother, and how when he first met Remy he was jealous and didn't like her. He left out the part about him manipulating her and using her of course, but told her about how he hated his birth mother for keeping Remy but giving him up. He told her about the different foster families, how some were good, some were okay, and some were downright awful, and he even talked about the Sparkes family, where he got his last name, and how he was so close to having a loving family finally, but lost it.

Afterwards, he sighed another heavy sigh.

"That was intense," he finally said. "I don't think I've ever opened up to anyone like this, other than my sister."

Nora quietly listened to Lysander's story, never interrupting him. Her heart squeezed a little, thinking of him getting bounced from home to home. No stability, no love or guidance. It must have been awful. She could even understand why he hated his birth mother, even if she most likely hadn't intended that kind of life for him. Hell, that could have very easily been Nora's life, too, if she hadn't been amazingly lucky enough to be adopted by her family.

She readjusted so that she was facing him, and reached up to run her hand through his short hair. "I'm glad you opened up to me," she told him. She kissed him. "But I wish you hadn't had to go through any of that."

She wanted to tell him how she was an orphan too, so she could relate just the tiniest bit, but she was worried it would just sound like she was trying to make the conversation about herself, or brag that she had been adopted early on. Maybe that could wait for another time, when he hadn't just spilled his guts to her. "And I think that baby is going to have an amazing uncle to look out for him or her."

After Nora's hand went through his hair, Lysander grabbed it into both of his before she dropped it. He realized that he must have turned toward her too, when she did.

Nora wrote:"And I think that baby is going to have an amazing uncle to look out for him or her."

Lysander smiled. "I'm glad you said that," he replied. "He or she will have great parents, but I don't ever want that child to feel as lonely as I did."

He squeezed her hand gently, then started to run his thumb across her knuckles. He swallowed hard. "You know Nora," he said, while looking up at her. "I don't think I've ever felt this way for anybody...the way I feel about you."

Lysander wasn't sure where all of this was coming from. He never liked expressing his emotions to anybody, barely to Remy even, but something about Nora brought it out of him. He felt nervous suddenly and exposed. As if he were in the middle of a shopping center completely naked. He was so afraid that she didn't share the same feelings as he did.

Nora looked into Lysander's eyes, surprised. While he had always been sweet to her and could certainly be charming when he wanted to, he had never actually been this open about his feelings. Let alone his feelings for her. She found herself smiling. "And I'm glad you said that," she told him, before giving him a long, deep kiss. Kissing was the most they had ever done together--Nora always liked to take things slow in a relationship. If she was going to sleep with someone, she wanted it to be meaningful, with someone she cared about and who cared about her.

She pulled back. "I feel the same way about you," she told him, before kissing him again. It was as if she and Lysander had come into each others' lives at the perfect time. They had both needed someone to open up to who didn't already know about them and all their baggage.

After returning Nora's kiss, Lysander sighed with relief. "I was actually really nervous to admit that to you," he told her. "I was so afraid you'd reject me."

Unsure of what to say next, Lysander just smiled at her. What a weird, unfamiliar feeling this was. He never cared for anybody before but himself. Then he met Remy and realized what an amazing clio she was, and now Nora. It was as if the ice around his heart had melted away.

Nora laughed. "Of course I wouldn't reject you!" she said. She wished he hadn't already faced so much rejection in his life.

The funny thing was, Lysander wasn't the type of guy she would have imagined herself falling for. Sure he was a sweetheart, but he also had an immature streak, and she got the impression that he hadn't been the most gentlemanly guy in the world with the previous girls he'd been with. But, well, he had always been good to her, ever since they first met. "How could I reject such a handsome face?" she asked playfully.

Lysander grinned sheepishly. "I've heard that my face is every girls weakness," he joked.

He waited for her response lol.

"Wow, every girl's weakness, huh?" Nora asked, smirking. "I must be pretty lucky then, to be the only girl out of all those others to earn your affections."

"Yeah," Lysander replied, while nodding in agreement. "You are pretty lucky."

He laughed and cupped her face in his hands so that he could pull her closer and kiss her forehead, he then pressed his forehead against hers and said, "Actually, I'm the lucky one," before kissing her.

"Yeah, you are," Nora agreed, taking Lysander's hands and pulling him up from the couch. After all their time together, it finally felt like the right time to take things further with him. She lead him to his bedroom where they finally did the deed that Lysander had probably been dying to do for months, but it was more special this way because they had come to really know and care for each other.

END