== 8/7/99 == Silence == M/K == Araxdelan The quiet of the moment, of the morning, stilled them both. Their minds silenced, the lies and half truths that they, like everyone else, told themselves, slid away, leaving nothing but truth. "I do love you, you know." The words were so surprising, so out of place. The silence was broken momentarily, before it sunk back in again, different now. At first Alex didn't comprehend. Morning and peace had clouded his brain. When he did finally hear the words for what they were, something inside him shifted. In his chest, something blossomed. It was not unlike pain. Sweet aching. It unfolded within him, and then began to fade. But not before it changed him, marked him in a way he could never erase. He stared at the pattern the sun was making on the wall. It shone through the blinds, making stripes of lightness and dark upon everything in it's path. His mind was blank as he studied this, letting the new emotions he was experiencing wash over him completely. He didn't think before speaking. And it was best. For some truths can only be told without thought, without contemplation and judgment that frightens and focuses and alters. And he told his truth. "I love you too." And the two sat in bed, shoulder to shoulder, and when the quiet once again returned it lost the expectant quality that it had left behind the last time it had encroached. This silence was different than any the two had ever experienced in each other's presence, or in the presence of any others. This silence was content. = fin. =