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Lorna and the Dane's come spend Thanksgiving at Jared's family luau on the beach. Alex is there with the puppies and they actually laugh and have a good time together. That is, until something happens neither are ready for and Vida sees something she shouldn't.





"I'm fine, Mom. Stuffed to the gills." Lorna bent and presses a kiss to her mother's temple. "Honest. Now stop looking at me like that." Without waiting for a response, Lorna darted away from the table, her paper plate in her hands. She dumped it in a trash can and spent a moment contemplating all that wasted food. It was evidence of her mother's skill that she could actually feel the eyes boring into her back, causing an itchy spot between her shoulder blades. Time for a strategic retreat. Lorna whistled for Lili and gave a tug on the metal ring she'd put on her collar then turned.

And nearly walked into Alex. "Oh! Hey. Save me from my mother. Come walk Lili with me."

Alex didn't need a leash or even a hold on Crush to keep the pup's attention as he held a bright yellow frisbee in his hands. He had been just about to go play with Jared's younger siblings but he saw the look in Lorna's eyes and couldn't help laughing, as he'd seen Mrs. Dane's actions towards Lorna's eating all day. Thankfully, Crush decided to ignore the frisbee and instead tug on Lili's tail, rough and yet gentle in the way only puppy play can. "Sure thing. Mom getting to ya?"

"God save me from the concern of a mother." Lorna shook her head and reached up to fuss at the flowers Mailani had insisted on weaving into her hair. "Quickly, before she tries to give me more kahlua pig." She slipped her arm through Alex's and tugged him off down the beach, puppies following automatically. "She seems to think that I need to gain back every last pound today. It's like torture but really really well-intentioned."

Laughing, Alex let himself be dragged. "This is the holiday for eating after all. What better opportunity could she have?" Once they were a safe distance away, Alex took his arm back and stopped her so he could fix the flowers in her hair, one of which was in danger of falling out. "Mailani wouldn't be happy if you ruined all her hard work." He teased, giving into the looser attitude of today, so much better then the last time they had talked.

"She gave me the whole 'mystical island princess' routine too. 'You must wear flowers, Lorna. It is bad luck for a pretty girl to not have flowers on Thanksgiving.' Uh huh. You know, I think she enjoys making up island lore more than she does studying it. Forget curses for taking lava stones from the island. It apparently offends Hi'iaka if hot chicks don't dress up." Lorna grinned. "I dodged the grass skirt and bikini top though. That was taking it too far."

He really couldn't help laughing, because he could picture Mailani doing just that. "You certainly wouldn't have been lonely if you had. Every guy here would be wanting to get you a drink or another piece of pie." He teased, of course not admitting he'd be one of them. "Thankfully, we men just have to run around shirtless and we appease the Mailani-goddess just fine."

"Great, just what I need, a whole gaggle of male Moms wanting me to eat," she laughed, honestly comfortable with him and glad of it. This was the part she'd missed, Lorna decided. It was being with him and just talking, the companionship and the knowledge that she was with someone who understood her. "Mailani doesn't need appeasing. Did you see that grad student she's dragging around? I think he's like Swiss or Dutch or something but he doesn't speak a word of English. And she doesn't even care."

"The big butch blond one? Oh yeah. She wanted me and Jared to teach him how to surf. I think we scared him out of the ocean forever when we gave him a demo and I totally wiped out." Alex recalled with a laugh.


The puppies had been running back and forth, chasing each other, when Lil decided to use Alex as a shield. The large Golden puppy ran into the back of Alex's legs before he could stop, sending Alex tripping forward, right into Lorna.


Vida handed the rest of her drink to her friend, and stood up to go in search of Alex. She was in a kissing mood, she decided. Something about the air tonight, making her feel heavy and powerful, and she wanted to share. But when someone told her that Alex was talking to that green-haired twat, her heart began to beat faster.



Not that she honestly believed that Alex would cheat on her, but still. The history was there. And Alex had talked enough about the ex that Vida had wanted to stick her fingers in her ears and scream. Alex was with her, she made him happy. That was all there was to it. She saw them together further down the beach, and she began to jog towards them.



Oh no you don't.


Lorna had been giggling right along with him when Crush collided with Alex's legs. She was able to grab Alex before he actually ran into her but he still outweighed her by a good 60 pounds or more and they stumbled back together before she lost her balance and they fell onto the soft sand. She was still laughing as she lay on her back, looking up at him. "Your dog sabotaged us," she accused. Several of the flowers had fallen out of her hair and scattered around her.

Alex rolled off her to lay on his beck next to her, gasping he was laughing so hard. He burst out laughing again when Crush came over to lick him apologetically. Shoving the large dog away, he moved to sit up, fingering a flower he found by his hand. "I think you lost something." He said through his giggles as he held up the smashed flower.

"Whoops. I wonder what Mailani would say to that," Lorna chuckled as she pushed herself up and took the flower from him, fingers brushing over the back of his hand lightly. "Let me see." She closed her eyes and pretended to be channeling her diminutive friend. "'Oh Lorna, now you have angered Pele herself. The plumeria is sacred to her and she demands sacrifice.' And then I'd have to go hula or kiss ten guys or something. Because Mailani is Satan in disguise."

Chuckling again to hide the shiver that ran down his spine at her touch, Alex moved closer so he could pretend to look sadly at the flower. "Pele is a vengeful goddess. You're in BIG trouble..." Yeah, the moving closer when neither were clothed in much? Not such a good idea.

"Yeah, I..." Lorna began, with a grin that quickly vanished as she looked up into his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat, taking her words with it and for a moment all she could focus on was him and the way her heart ached with regrets. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she exhaled on his name, "Alex?"

"Shhh..." Alex said softly, the proximity to Lorna turning off any rational parts of his brain. God, he'd missed her...Not thinking before he moved, he slowly dropped his head down to give her a soft kiss.


Unbeknowst to either of them, Vida had stopped several feet away. And she felt something in her die. Fingernails dug into palms so tight that they began to bleed, Vida turned and fled.

So be it.



The flower fell unnoticed to the sand as Lorna brought her hand to his cheek and slid it into his hair, still slight damp from the earlier surfing. Though the kiss remained soft, barely a brush of mouth over mouth, it made her shudder with all the things she'd lost in walking away from him and made her ache with the need to have them back again. Who was she kidding? He was still able to become the only thing in her world. "Alex," she murmured again.

Ever since they had met, she'd been the only thing in his. And this? This was pure torture. To have Lorna...so close. Alex pulled back slightly, closing his eyes but keeping their forehead's touching. His hands were at her waist, holding her either close or away, Alex didn't know. "Lorna...is this...do you want this?" He was not about to force something she didn't want, especially if she didn't love him.

"I..." Yes. No. Can't. "Christ, Alex. We... I'm going home tomorrow. I have to. And I can't...I can't walk away again like that." She opened her eyes and curved her hand around his cheek, thumb brushing his lips. "What about Vida?"

Oh God. Vida. Alex opened his eyes, the confusion he felt apparent in his eyes. Biting his lip to hide a sob, he sat back, taking his hands off her and pulling his head out of her grasp. "I'm sorry..." He said softly, moving to stand up.

Lorna stayed where she was to give her racing heart a chance to settle and stop hurting. "We'll be friends. It's better that way. I'm not ready and you're happy with her and that's...that's just how it is. But we can be friends." She hesitated. "Can't we?"

Alex looked out at the sea as he nodded, because he just couldn't look at her and see the hurt he knew was there. "Of course we can." He said softly as he held out a hand to help her up. "Just friends."


Farther down the beach, Vida ran towards her mother, trying desperately not to cry. That Lorna'd broken Alex's fucking heart and he'd gone crawling right back to her the moment she showed her ugly face But there was a solution to this, one that she'd avoided for months. She'd been powerless in the face of that bitch, and she hated feeling powerless. It simply wasn't natural for someone like her.



No matter. There was a way to make him hers again. And she wouldn't be powerless anymore.