Yawning and looking up at his ceiling he laid awake it was late night or early morning either way Sam couldn’t sleep. Too much had been going on lately too many good things. Him and Leila getting closer, him getting a promotion to a full fledged X-men, stopping a bank robbery with minimal casualties, along with lots of smaller things that kept piling up.

Even though the mansion was attack not to long ago to many good things have been happening to make up for it seeing as Doc Prof was excellent at his job. But after doing a search of the residents they did discover a disappearance of one of the trainees, some one Sam didn’t know as well as he would have liked. Not knowing where exactly Seizure went Sam hoped he was finding what he was looking for. Despite the fact that a trainee had left Sam was still feeling that things were going to good to be true.

Rolling over onto his side Sam’s eyes trailed down to the floor, which was illuminated by the moonlight. Sighing and then rising from his bed Sam walked over to his large window and opened the curtains and looked up seeing a few stars in the cloudless sky. Feeling like he would like more Sam opened up the windows and stepped out onto the balcony that connected to his window.

A cool wind swept over his half naked body, as he looked up at the stars with his mouth slightly open, “wow” was all Sam could muster as he was looking up at the large full moon and the stars that glittered like diamonds in the sky.

The night was brighter then usual as Leila stood at her window, watching the Moon, the stars. She tried making out familiar constelations, but there were still some clouds, blocking most of the few set of stars Leila knew. She couldn't stop herself from grinning, not even shivering in her over-sized Man's shirt. She didn't feel like sleeping, in fact, she hadn't felt like sleeping for two whole days. With the secret Order Trip coming up in about a week, who would?

She heard a few footsteps outside from the Balcony. She wondered who'd be up this late at night. Especially out in the wintery air. She opened up her window further more, letting the wind brush against her bare legs. She heard the footsteps even more clearly now and smiled. Cautious not to scrap herself, she edged over the window and on the Balcony. Greatful for the fluffy pink slippers she was wearing.

Leila's hearing had started to get sharper as time wen't by. She could now hear things humans would usually crain their necks to be able to hear properly. She could still hear the footsteps coming from about 20 feet away in the shadows, so she started walking. Wondering what she'd do if this was a Robber trying to break in the Mansion. Then, she'd probably have a problem defending herself. To her surprise though, it wasn't a robber. It was a familiar Mansion Resident she knew and loved.

It was her boyfriend. She edged closer, her legs trembling a little now that they had been exposed to the cold. She snuck up behind Sam and very quietly, she put her hands in front of his eyes, blocking his view of the sky. "Guess who?" she said, her voice as if she wasn't stressed. As if she wasn't tired. As if she wasn't about to leave for Australia and maybe, just maybe, not return.

It only took a blink but during that blink Sam heard a footstep behind him and tensed slightly his body ready to go into an attack stance but quickly un-tensed when he felt the touch of someone he knew, the touch was far to loving to be anything dangerous. Sam smiled, ‘Leila’ thought Sam he took a breath of the cool fresh air that beat against his bear chest.

"Guess who?"

“Really hope it’s Leila,” said Sam jokingly. Sam would have issues if it were someone else behind him, a lot of issues. But he knew Leila’s touch, which made it that much better when he turned around and tilted his head down slightly to look at Leila. Glad she was here Sam smiled and leaned in to kiss her then pulled back after, “What are you doing up?” asked Sam.

The sudden feeling of unease left him as he pulled Leila into a hug, he didn’t know why but he felt safe and at ease around her. Something that Sam couldn’t say with a lot of people. Maybe it was love? The thought lifted from his mind as he looked up at the stars and then down to Leila, “Pretty night, Great girl couldn’t ask for more!” Sam said with a smile on his face.

Leila smiled as she pulled her hands away. Letting him turn around. As soon as he did, she looked up into his icy blue eyes and let him kiss her. Her arms locked around his neck instantly, kissing him back. She had missed him, even if they'd seen each other rather regularly. Her hands trailed down his cold chest until they reached his hands. SHe tangled her fingers through his and smiled. There was no way she'd hurt him, even if she had told Syn she'd kill any X-Men if they got in her way. She couldn't hurt Sam, not even a scratch.

"I couldn't sleep." she admitted shivering just a tiny bit as a cold rush of wind hit them both, making her messy hair fly in every direction. "How about you?" she asked, her tone casual. She knew he was up for a reason similar to hers so she didn't really mind much. She twisted her body slightly so she could be more comfortable as he crushed her against him. "Iv'e missed you." she whispered, her head leaning against him, not even bothering to comment on his lacking of a shirt. She was pantless, that wasn,t any better.

Plus, he could resist the cold, so he had better reasons to ask her what she was doing half dressed out here. She shivered once more, trying not to be bothered by the cold. She wanted to stay with him all night. "Yeah it is nice huh?" she said, looking up at the stars again. "I haven't seen stars like this yet in New York." she sighed, leaning against him again.

Sam smiled down now holding Leila, “To much on my mind right now…” said Sam somewhat mysteriously. Sam didn’t want to talk about much that was on his mind, the main reason was because no one had yet to learn about his past except Sara who had been great at keeping that secret. There was also the fact that Sam had a dream about Leila, one he didn’t want to remember…

“Missed me?” Sam repeated giving her a tight hug as he continued to hug her, “When was the last time you saw me? Yesterday?” Sam asked after kissing her head. He didn’t mean to hassle her too much because the fact was he had missed her to. Even though he had seen her the day before. Although he did have to admit it recently he had been very busy.

Sam felt her shivered but didn’t say anything at first, he wanted to stay out on the balcony sharing the sight of the moon and stars with Leila. “I haven’t taken you to my secret spot yet have I?” Sam asked curiously. He was of course referring to the spot in the middle of central park which was a small lake surrounded by trees.

Another gust of wind blew and Sam’s grip on Leila tightened and Sam said, “Your cold aren’t you?” Sam knew the symptoms of being cold but has yet to ever experience it.

Leila grinned comfortingly at him. "I know what's that like." she said, brushing her hand against his cheekbone. She didn't mind him not telling her, he was allowed to have things private. Afterall, she was keeping half of her life shut away from him. And those were things he couldn't find out. Ever. So what was the big deal if he hid some small, probably unharmful thing from her? It wasn't as if he was a Murderer. Not that she'd care if he was one. She'd be one in the near future.

Leila couldn't help but laugh. "I'll miss you whenever your not here, close to me." she admitted, snuggling up closer to him, half wanting to stop the cold from making her freeze. Sam's body was hot, and that was good. The feeling of warmth and safety was just... perfect. Then a question came out of his lips. His secret spot? Leila smiled. Wherever this secret spot was, if he was there, she'd be happy to go.

"No, I'm afraid you haven't" she said. She looked upwards at the moon again. This was a to perfect. Just them, standing close together in a tight hug, under the moonlight. She had nearly forgotten the cold, but Sam had to bring it back to the center of her mind. She sighed. "I guess I am." she said, wishing she could be like him, and be able to stand in the cold without being bothered. Now she'd have to go back in her room and wait until morning to see him again.

Catching the sigh Sam smiled, he knew she didn’t want to go but why should she? He had a perfectly warm bed and room, and the bed was always way to big for one person so why not go for it? Clearing his throat Sam said, “you know my bed is pretty big….”
Feeling slightly awkward asking Leila this Sam just put on a nervous smile, “… if you want we can just cuddle…”

Blood rushed to Sam’s face but he did his best to push it back. Sam had always been alone but sharing a bed with someone he actually liked a lot like Leila, that thought was too much to pass up. Sam let go of Leila and worked his way back to his room, “If you don’t it’s alright.”

Sam then walked into his room which as always was cleaned and spit shined, no dirt no dust and no dirty clothes in site, Sam had been called a neat freak one or twice but it was the truth. He waited to see Leila’s reaction before he would close his window and trying to sleep.

Leila, slightly startled by his idea, lifted her chin up slightly. She really didn't mind spending the night, but she had never imagined he felt the same way about her. Leila grinned at his awkwardness. "Sure." she said and kissed him again. She watched as he started to make his way back, and walked beside him. "I do, I really do." she said in a slightly higher pitch then usual.

Leila came stumbling behind him. "Nice place." she said casually. This was getting further on then she'd planned. Her relationship with Sam was at a stronger level then any of the many past flings and romances she'd ever been in. Trust me, Leila had been in way to many. Could she really settle down now? Be dedicated to Sam? Sure, it wasn't like they were getting married, but now that they would...

Leila didn't think about anything else as she made her way to Sam and wrapped her arms around him. "I want to." she added between kisses.

Sam felt her wrap around him as her as he returned the kisses. Sam was a bit nervous but it didn’t stop him from dragging Leila to the bed while she was still wrapped around his neck and still kissing him. Never before has he gone as far as he was about to go with a girl like Leila, sure there were others but they were easily forgettable. In fact most of them were forgettable. When he thought about it there faces just blurred together. But Leila’s shown brightly threw the clouded and blurred faces, she was the one.

Sam stumbled on the edge of his large bed and landed on top of Leila, still kissing her he felt his heart beat quicken and his head started to feel like it was floating. ‘Love?’ Sam asked. He never experienced a head rush like this or his heart rate quicken quite like this, he noticed his heart seemed to skip a beat once or twice but he couldn’t care, he was to focused on the girl he was with, his Leila.

Which sucked for Sam because one of his biggest fears was that his loved ones would one day be hurt because of him. The thought of Leila hurt scared Sam, scared him more than the thought of the others getting hurt because of him. He couldn’t do this…but why couldn’t he stop?

Leila's breath quickened as she felt herself being dragged towards the bed. She felt a surge of emotion towards Sam as her back hit the matress with a hard force. She loved this man, she really, really did. How come she had never said the three simple, yet meaningful three words aloud to him? An other part of her felt sad. She'd gotten herself in the Order, and one of these days he'd find out. What would happen then? Would he break up with her and fight her like everyone else would?

She shrugged the thought away as her arms edged towards his chest, downwards. The two were now on the bed, Sam over Leila. She couldn't breathe. This was intense, but yet, she hadn,t said the three words. Before this got to a point where neither would want to talk, she pushed his face away from hers. "I love you." she breathed, "I love you so much!" and then she pulled him closer still, forgetting everything else that was around her, even the open window that was drawing in hard gusts of wind.

"I love you."

Sam’s heartbeat stopped for a second then kept going, he didn’t know how to respond did he feel the same? He certainly felt something when he was with her but was that love? Or was it something else? Sam didn’t know but he heard a voice in the back of his head that said, ‘I love you too Leila’. Sam’s mouth didn’t quite catch up to his mind as she said it again.

"I love you so much!"

There it was again, she took the first Leap by saying it. Again in his head the voice now louder replied, ‘I love you’ but again his mouth didn’t move. Sam just looked at Leila his moth trying to form the words with no luck; he loved her he just wasn’t that used to feeling that vulnerable.

Taking a weak inhalation of air and Leila’s scent Sam said, “I…Love you too…” there he said it an meant it even if it didn’t sound so powerful, Sam had never ever muttered those words to anyone in his life, he was almost positive this was the first time he ever said those words to anyone before.

Sam got off of Leila for a second as he felt the chill on his back and ran to the window and closed and hen locked it closing the drapes in front of it. Sam then ran back to the bed and jumped doing a twirl over Leila and landing next to her. Waving his hand Sam waved Leila up towards him.

Leila wasn't surprised when it took him a few seconds to reply to her 'I Love You'. She had expected that, but what she hadn't expected was the way he seemed to really, really mean it. She hadn't said those words much, not to a guy anyway. No, not even her father. She smiled at him, so this was what real love felt like then? Her heart was hammering against her ribs, and her breath was uneven. This was definately worth it, and she knew she'd be able to get through the Trip to Australia, with him on her mind.

She sat up, watching him move over to the Window. her tangled hair was everywhere and by no means was she able to shake them away from her face. Before she could tie them up, Sam was back and all those things were left forgotten as the night continued. Leila had finally found what she'd been looking for since leaving France on her nineteenth bvirthday. She hadn't known it back then, but now she did. The missing part of her was back, and she loved every minute of it. 'I love you Sam Johnson.' she kept repeating in her head, knowing that he did love her too.

Fade to Black