The Unexpected

Sorry this post is a little long, couldn't find the right cut off-



July 2003 Alicia POV


"What are you doing here?" Viviane may have been glaring but her voice didn't match her expression. She barely uttered her words as tears fell down her cheeks. She looked away from me quickly and covered her face with her hands. I turned to go realizing she probably didn't want me here.

Instead of walking away like I should, I felt my feet carry me to Viviane. Sitting beside her I hesitantly raised my arm and stroked her back. I stiffened and prepared for her wrath when I felt her move. She turned towards me and laid her head in my lap and broke down, my hand still on her back, moved up and down with her sobs. I didn't know what to say so I decided silence was best. Gosh I really wish Dean would show up right now. We sat there for a few moments, when her breathing began to steady and she was no longer crying, she sat up. I expected her to come back to reality and  be angry at me for being there, I was surprised when she gave me a small smile.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry on you like that." She reached in her bag next to her and pulled out some tissue to wipe her face.

"It's ok, are you ok?" I didn't want to push it,  the fact she actually apologized was huge, but curiosity won out and I had to ask.

"Yeah, I mean...no, no I'm not.  Today is mine and Drew's anniversary. We would have been together 6 years today." She swollowed and raised her head and blinked back the tears.  I'm guessing Drew is her late husband so I decided it was best not to ask.

"I'm sorry, it's difficult to loose someone you love." Gosh that sounded so cliché. Hopefully the sudden nice side of Viviane was here to say and she didn't get annoyed with me.

"Oh really, how would you know, right now you and Dean are in the honeymoon stage of your relationship." She snorted, guess my luck was fading.

"Well, I lost my dad, I was young so I don't remember much but I did watch my mother suffer." She looked at me quickly and I saw her face fall.

"I'm sorry, how did your mom get over loosing your dad?"  Two apologies, maybe she isn't so bad after all.

"I don't think you ever really get over someone. It took time for her, she took it really hard but one day it just didn't hurt as bad as the day before and each day after it got a little easier. Until she didn't cry at every little thing that reminded her of him." I didn't like talking about the past, my mother went into a deep depression after my father's death and I don't want to bring up the memories. I wasn't about to get into detail about the length of time it took my mother to start functioning normally, I don't think it would help any.

"I'm scared I'll forget him. I don't want to move on because whenever I start to I feel like I'm forgetting him.  The first time I laughed after his death, I felt so guilty, it was some stupid joke Dean made. It had only been a week, I couldn't believe I laughed when I should have been mourning Will." I saw the water form in her eyes and felt my own eyes begin to tear up.

"You will never forget him and you should never feel guilty about moving on. It doesn't mean you gave up on him. My mom always said she used to think she couldn't enjoy anything because she didn't want to think she was happy he wasn't here. Over time though she knew he would have wanted her to be happy and her time with him may have been cut short, but it wasn't her choice."

She nodded her head at this and before I knew it she enveloped me in a tight hug. When I stiffened she pulled away.

"I know I've been a real bitch to you. Since Will passed the thought of anyone else being in love makes my stomach churn. I see the way Dean looks at you and I see the way you look at him. It was how I used to look at Will. I know you're still young but I've had my share of guys before Will and let me tell you, when you fall in love you know. Somewhere in there I'm happy for you guys." She put her hand to her chest.

I'm not used to this much sappy talk, especially from her. Just fifteen minutes ago Dean told me he loved me and now his sister has poured her heart out at me. What's with these Lockwood's?

"Who said we were in love?" I tried to laugh it off.

"Oh come on you guys can't keep your hands off each other. And ever since you got together Dean won't shut up about you." I tried to force a smile but she must have seen right through me.

"What's the matter you look like you ate something spoiled?"

The last person I wanted to talk to about this was Dean's sister, but she did just do a 180 and I did want to talk to someone.

"I never wanted to fall in love, I don't even think I can." I felt guilty just saying this.

"When you wake up in the morning, what's the first thing you think about?" Viviane asked.

"Dean, if I'm not with him I wish I was, and if he's there I wake up happy." This made me smile just thinking about his arms wrapped around me as we lay there.

"What's the last thing you think about at night?"

"Dean..."

"First person you want to tell good news to?"

"Dean," I wanted to say Juliette but I knew I always talk to Dean first.

"Alicia, you may say you can't be in love but only you know how you really feel. Take it from my experience,  life's short, don't waste time being dramatic about it." Viviane stood up and smoothed her dress.

"I'm sure Dean will be wondering what happened to his date, let's get back to the party, I'm sorry for crying all over you." And with that she turned walking back toward the party. I sat there unable to move, I knew she was right it was obvious we were in love. Then why was it so hard for me to say it? I figured I would get up the courage to tell him how I feel as I walked back to the party, lucky for me the property was large and I had a good trek back.

I scanned the crowd in front of me until my eyes rested on him. Dean was standing next to his brother, he threw his head back and laughed at something. I felt my cheeks get hot as I made my way over to him.  Spotting me his eyes lit up. God those blue eyes got me every time. I wrapped my arms around him inhaling his scent. Dean lowered his head and gave me a soft kiss.

"You think we can sneak away for a little?" He nodded in agreement and grabbed my hand yanking me toward the house. We quickly walked through the house until we reached the staircase at the front entrance. Once upstairs Dean turned to the right and continued down a hall. We must have passed fifteen doors before the hallway ended and came to a set of french doors.

"Want to see my room?" He said with a mischievous grin. Nodding I followed him in. The size of the room was shocking,  it was easily twice the size of our apartment. There was a matching leather couch and chair on the left side of the room, they sat facing a large brick fireplace. Above the mantel was a large TV mounted. On the right was a large king size bed. Everything was decorated in a nautical theme with navy blue, white and red. A giant wooden ships wheel hung above the bed. There were a handful of ships in bottles on the dresser, I moved closer to take a look.

"Did you make all these?" There were at least a dozen in all different styles and sizes.

"Yes, a couple of the first ones I did with my dad but most were me." He gave me a look of triumph. I pointed to one in a bell shaped bottle and asked if it was a Spanish galleon replica,  little did he know that was the only type of ship I knew. He smiled in surprise and told me a little bit about it.

"I'm boring you now aren't I?" He closed the space between us and held me around the waist.

"No I think it's adorable,  your little hobby." I couldn't help the giggle that escaped.

"Hey, this collection has worked on impressing the ladies before." He tried to hide a smile.

"Oh really Mr. Lockwood, how many?"

"One, it worked on you. I'm pretty sure you like me more now that you've seen my childhood room." Leaning down he kissed me. I pulled away when something caught my eye.

"What is this?" I wasn't holding back the laughter this time. I picked up the picture frame and examined it closer. Dean must have been around ten, he was wearing a blue polo shirt and khakis, the funny part was his hair, his blonde curls were unruly on the top and trimmed short along the sides. His face was turned to the side so you got a clear view of his mullet!

"You did not have a mullet, oh my gosh." I was laughing so hard right now my side began to hurt.

"It was 1991 ok, didn't you ever see Lethal weapon? It was cool, stop laughing at me woman." Luckily he was grinning when he took the picture out of my hands and put it back face down this time. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the bed.

"I'm not going to show you the picture where I'm sporting some sick MC Hammer pants." Before I could laugh again his lips met mine. Putting my hand on the back of his head I pulled him closer. When his tongue brushed across mine I knew I needed to talk to him before this went to far. Pushing away I moved my hand to his cheek. Looking into those deep blue eyes I knew it was true,  I was head over heels in love with this man. Now I just needed the courage to say it out loud.

"I love you too," there it is I did it, and it felt great to say. So I said it again and again.  His face lit up before he kissed me hard on the mouth.

"I know." Was all he said before leaning me down on the bed.

Within seconds we were frantically ripping at each others clothes. After removing his belt and lowering his slacks he lifted the skirt of my dress up and moved my panties to the side. Lowering himself on top of me he thrust into me and we got into a quick rhythm. I lifted my head to kiss him forcing his mouth to open for me. It didn't take long before I was moaning into his mouth in pleasure. Shortly after he gently tugged the hair at my scalp and cried out as he climaxed.

We laid there catching our breath before deciding we had probably been away from the party suspiciously long. We adjusted our clothing and I tried running my hands through my long hair to calm it.

 When we felt presentable we made the journey back to the guests. Fortunately everyone seemed occupied in their own discussions they didn't seem to notice our absence.  I spotted Juliette who was busy giggling away at something Dominic was saying. I grabbed two glasses of champagne from a server walking by, handing one to Dean I pointed toward his brother and walked over. Juliette saw us approaching and her lips curled into a smile and gave me a knowing look.

"Nice of you guys to join the party," Juliette said her smile widened.

"Dean was just giving me a tour, that's all." I tried to sound convincing. Hell if Dominic weren't standing there I would have just said 'yep we had a quicky upstairs' and moved on.

"Oh yeah?  Did little bro here show you his ballroom dancing tropies?" Dominic said smacking Dean on the back. A look of embarrassment flashed across Dean's face.

"I'm not going to deny that. Mom made me take lessons, it's not my fault I apparently have a gift and went on to win multiple competitions." He tried to straighten up and say that with confidence,  it worked until we all burst out laughing.

"I think it's cute, I have to see a picture of you in those costumes!" I said wrappimg my arm in his.

"Oh there's pictures,  but even better, there's video evidence." Dominic revealed.

We continued laughing about old stories Dominic and Dean had. I didn't realize how late it had gotten until I noticed the sky was dark and half the guests had filtered out. Dean left my side for a few moments to say goodbye to the ones still here. Juliette and I grabbed our purses and met Dean at the front where he was thanking his parents for throwing this get together.

"Alicia I'm so happy you came,  my son talks very highly of you and I'm enjoying the chance to get to know you." Anna said enveloping me in a hug. I thanked her again and took Frank's out stretched hand, he surprised me by pulling me in for a hug also.  The butler,  Henry, appeared holding a large box.

"Oh yes Dean, here are your gifts.  There's a couple small wrapped gifts in there, but it looks like most everyone brought envelopes." Dean's father said taking the box away from Henry and passing it on to Dean. I peeked into the open box and was shocked at the amount of envelopes in there.

"Wait,  I forgot to give you my gift. " Viviane came up to us, panting like she just ran a few blocks. She handed him a shiny gold watch with a black leather strap.

"Sorry it's not wrapped.  It was Will's, he bought it after he graduated,  he said it was the first nice thing he ever bought for himself.  He engraved it. " She motioned for him to flip it,  revealing an inscription 'dream big, live bigger' on the back. Dean grabbed Viviane giving her a long hug. He whispered something to her and she nodded giving him a smile.

Turning her attention to me she leaned in to say "thank you," before giving me a hug. I saw Juliette's confused expression and reminded myself to talk to her later.

All our goodbyes were made and we headed back for home. Juliette sat rambling about something in the back seat, I half listened as I stared out the window.  Dean entwined his fingers with mine. Turning to face him he mouthed "I love you" making my heart beat a little bit faster I mouthed back, " I love you too."