When Adam leaned down for the second kiss, Chloe honestly didn't know if she wanted another kiss or not. Would he think she was easy for letting him kiss her on their first date and when she knew so little about him? She had so many things she worried about but despite that, she didn't really move away or stop him. She felt her eyes flutter close as his lips moves steadily towards her. But as soon as his lips rested against hers again, images flashed through her head just like the first time.

Lightning and fire clashing against each other. Two women's faces. A spinning wheel with golden thread.

What were those?

As Adam's lips left hers, the images withdrew as well. When he hugged her, she automatically hugged him back, liking the way his arms felt warm around her. But she couldn't quite focus on him as her mind tried to find a reason why she kept seeing strange vaguely familiar images in her head every time he kissed her. Did he see them as well? Should she ask?

I'd probably sound crazy if I tell him I'm seeing strange things in my head everytime he kisses me. And if he thinks I'm crazy then I wouldn't see him again. She thought to herself, letting him tug her down to sit beside him. And then instead of asking about visions and strange images, she blurted out a completely different question.

"Do you kiss every girl you bring on a first date?" she asked.

Oops. That was a little too straightforward, wasn't it? she inwardly sighed. Too late to take back what she said now.

Adam helped her land so she sat next to him and he heard her ask, "Do you kiss every girl you bring on a first date?" she asked.

Adam smiled a little bit and looked her in the eye. "No, as a matter of fact I don't even date much. I don't find many girls that attract me to them. I require more than physical attraction to ask a girl on a date." He gave her a funny look. "Why? What have you heard?" His soft chuckle sounded relaxing to the ear. "Do you object to my kissing you?" He wasn't sure how to take her. She seemed suddenly more unsure than she had before and he wasn't sure what he did for that to happen.

@Kyrisse

"Oh," was all Chloe could say.

More than physical attraction? I wonder what about me he's attracted to. I mean... I'm not even half as pretty as Madison...wait, he did say more than physical attraction. But... but I'm a blabbering idiot who has absolutely no control over what I say.
He couldn't possibly like that, could he? The blush crept back onto her cheeks as she mulled over her thoughts. And when asked questions again, she smiled sheepishly as though she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Oh, I haven't heard anything at all. In the gym...that was actually the first time I've ever seen you cause... well, I don't really go out that much and I don't got to the gym and---"

Blabbering again, Chloe, she warned herself.

She cleared her throat. "No, no, I don't mind really. I was just... surprised," she finished.

Adam caught her blush and he smiled a little more confidently when she was okay with his kisses. "I'm glad to hear that. I like kissing you and holding your hand in mine and I'm hoping that you will sit and enjoy the ocean and the night sky with me for a while longer. I like your company Chloe. You are real, not one of those fake girls with too much makeup that are only interested in partying, sex and money."

With that admission he leaned over and kissed her nose softly as he looked into the dark pools her eyes became in the darkness. Smiling he looked up and pointed out some of the constellations as he found them.

@Kyrisse

Chloe looked up at the stars and listened silently as Adam pointed out the constellations.

Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Gemini, Hercules, Perseus, Pegasus, Virgo... It was strange that with each constellation he pointed out, Chloe's mind automatically knew about what they represented. Andromeda was the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus and wife to Perseus. Cassiopeia was Andromeda's mother who boasted of the beauty of her daughter and angered Poseidon. Gemini is the fraternal brothers Castor and Pollux. Hercules is the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Hera hated him. Perseus was the son of Zeus fell and Danaë and the killer of Medusa. Pegasus is the winged horse and mount of Perseus. Virgo is the maiden Demeter, goddess of crops, vegetation, fertility, and harvest.

She furrowed her brows, trying to figure how she knew of these things when she wasn't particularly fond of reading about mythology. "So strange..." she muttered under her breath.

Adam couldn't take his eyes off of her. He thought she was beautiful. Her hair was shiny in the moonlight and her eyes almost sparkled. He was mesmerized and slightly shocked that she was with him.

Adam's smile was visible in the darkness. He kept looking at the stars. "What is so strange? If you had to pick a favorite God or Goddess who would you choose and why?" Taking off his jacket he laid it out behind them so he could lay his head on the sand and look up at her and the stars. "What is on your mind? You seem preoccupied to me?"

@Kyrisse

Chloe shook her head. "Oh, I was just preoccupied with how beautiful the stars are. I wonder if they are the shining souls of the gods looking down on us... if there really are gods, you know? I can't really say that I have a favorite god or goddess... I'm not even sure I believe they exist. I mean, if they do, what do they do all day? Throw parties in their castles in the sky while they watch people on earth live their lives and die? That'd be such a waste of time, don't you think?"

She paused, still staring at the night sky. "But then if there are no gods and godesses, who created people? It'd be terribly lonely to think that there wasn't a single powerful being watching out for us up there," she mused out aloud.

"I bet because I'm a fighter you would think that Ares was my favorite. You'd be wrong. I like Hephaestus best. He was the best forger who made these incredible weapons as well as things of other uses AND as ugly as he was, he was the underdog and married Aphrodite the goddess of beauty and love." He peeked up at her and smiled as he reached up and took her hand in his again and kissed it.

"Aphrodite has nothing on you Chloe." He lay there looking at the stars. "I think they were up there and something happened, someone stronger or something big wiped them out." With a quick tug he pulled her down next to him and he pointed out the other constellations. They spoke for hours before heading back to his home.

@Kyrisse

As soon as they got back to Adam's house, Chloe's eyes fell on the rustic clock hanging on the wall and was surprised that it was almost midnight. "Wow. I didn't think it'd be this late. I really should get going," she said as she turned around and faced the man she honestly liked spending time with despite having only met him earlier that day. She had also curiously warmed up significantly fast to him. "It was really nice spending time with you," she smiled prettily. She stood on tiptoe, pressed a small kiss on his cheek before saying goodbye and walking away.

Adam grinned as she walked away and he reached out grabbing her hand once more and tugged her back to him and he pulled her into his arms and hugged her to him. She felt so natural in his arms, so right. He kissed her lips seductively for a moment and then he took her hand and walked her out to his truck and helped her inside it. They were miles from the city and he would never let her walk home alone. Once they got back to her shop he walked her to her car.

"Chloe? Would you go out with me again? Tomorrow is Saturday and I have a tournament out of town but I'll be back on Monday. Would you have dinner with me on Monday?"

He hoped that the two days he was away she wouldn't decide that she hated him or anything. Since she hadn't yelled at him or done anything to discourage his kisses he figured that she must like him a little bit. After watching her drive away he headed out of town to the tournament's location. It was a three hour drive but he was too wired to sleep. All he could think about was Chloe.

@Kyrisse

Dinner on Monday would be nice. It was the last thing she said to Adam before they parted ways. It made her smile thinking about the time she spent with Adam, She replayed the events in her head, especially how he seemed to liked kissing her. Humming softly in tune with the music playing on the radio, she drove a little faster and didn't really notice the strange hunched back figure crossing the street. When she did notice the figure, she barely had time to turn the steering wheel to avoid hitting the person. The sudden turn and the speed of the car sent it careening towards a tree. On impact, Chloe's head whiplashed against the head rest and the steering wheel before the air bag inflated. The trauma effectively made her unconscious, blood running down the side of her face.

Adam was up next in the ring. He was the defending champion and he was feeling like he was in excellent shape for the fight. The championships were only once a year and the guy he was fighting was tough but Adam had beaten him before. His phone rang and he looked at it oddly and answered it. Everyone knew where he was so no one would call without an emergency. He sensed something was wrong as he lifted it to his face. Looking at the caller ID he frowned.

It was Sherry from the office. "What's wrong?"

He listened intently for a moment and his expression changed to one of fear and worry. "Where is she? Text it to me. Thanks!"

Adam grabbed his duffle bag and ran out of the arena and jumped into his truck. Tossing his gear in as he jammed the key in roaring the monster truck to life. The tires left rubber in the parking lot as he peeled out and raced to the expressway. Sherry said that she had gone to see her sister, the nurse at the ER, and that Chloe had been in a car accident and was in the hospital. She said that she was there when they had brought her in the ambulance.

Adam made it back in near record time. A three hour ride out there had only taken him an hour and fifty minutes on the way back.

When he got to the hospital he nearly ran to her room. He had been in this hospital a dozen times over the years. Fighting meant injuries and injuries meant x-rays and broken bones. Still in his fighting clothes he turned into the room she was in and when he saw her he stared at her a moment and then he went over to her bed tossing his bag on the chair. She appeared to be asleep. He looked at the bruises on her face and her hands from the glass cuts. He touched her face for a moment and he didn't want to leave her so he went to the door and grabbed a nurse's attention.

"My name is Adam Kaos. I'm her boyfriend. Is she okay? What is her condition and what do we need to do?"
@Kyrisse

Chloe found herself drifting in a dark empty space when she opened her eyes. She gasped, trying to feel for something to hold onto but found nothing. She struggled for a few minutes, reaching with both her feet and her hands. But all she really managed to do was move herself in a full 360 degrees turn. When she finally gave up, she just let herself float and wondered where she was and why she was there in the first place. The last thing she could remember was being in a car crash...

Chloe's eyes widened when she realized that she must have died. But before she could really mull on the idea, something gleaming caught her eye. She turned her head to see a familiar looking thread stetched out in front of her. In the darkness it was stark white and strangely luminescent. She could have sworn it was the same thread she made just the other day. Without really thinking about it, she reached out and grabbed it. As her hand touched the thread, an image of a baby boy wearing the small sweater she had knitted using the thread she made flashed through her head. She blinked and let go. As soon as she did, the image disappeared.

Chloe blinked again. What was that?

And then her jaw fell open as one by one, threads began appearing all around her. She reached out and touched another one and an image of a young woman wearing a scarf she made invaded her mind.

---

The nurse that Adam asked looked up and gave him an appreciative look before answering his question. "She suffered a concussion, Mr. Kaos, but scans showed no signs of internal bleeding. She also has a dislocated shoulder and a sprained wrist, nothing serious. The doctors have already set it back in place but she won't be able to move that arm around for a few days. She also hasn't gained consciousness so we're still monitoring her."

Adam listened intently and then went back into the room and sat in the hard chair near the bed. He leaned over and gave Chloe a kiss on the forehead and took her hand in his and he stared at it a moment. He'd had other girlfriends before. Dating was not new to him so why was this girl so important to him? She was in a minor accident and he threw away an entire year's worth of PR that the championship would have given him. Wondering why she wasn't awake yet he felt her pulse on her wrist and he couldn't help but notice that it was racing. Was she dreaming?

Adam turned her palm over and he kissed her hand. "Chloe wake up. It's Adam." He hated feeling so useless. He was not patient when it came to waiting and he moved her hair over and saw the black eye she had gotten in the accident and he winced.

"Chloe what is it about you-?" He broke off wondering aloud at his own questions as he sat down and clicked on the tv.

@Kyrisse

"What the...?" Chloe looked around her and found that she was standing in a wide field filled with threads. Her spinning wheel was at her side and in the distance, she can see two female figures, one was unfurling a spool while the other one was strumming a taut thread with a pair of scissors. The two women looked vaguely familiar but they were too far away for her to really discern their faces. Wanting to see who they were and why they were familiar, she took a step forward and tripped on one of the threads. Panicking, she reached out and grabbed a couple to steady herself, accidentally intertwining lives.

When she regained her footing, she looked around frustratedly. How do you get across a field that looked like spiderman had a field day with? Shaking her head, she carefully stepped between threads, her hand still seeking support from the threads that were suspended higher. As her hand closed in on another thread, Adam's face flashed through her head.

Chloe stopped and stood still. "Adam...?"

"Chloe what is it about you-?"

Was she imagining things? She could see Adam clearly but he was obviously not in the same place as she was. She furrowed her brow.
"Am I hallucinating now?" She looked around again, desperately trying to look for the way out. As her eyes swept across the vast field, the two women who she had initially wanted to approach, both raised a hand and gestured for her to come to them.

Chloe stopped and stood still. "Adam...?"

Adam almost jumped out of his chair. He squeezed her hand "Chloe!" Realizing she was still dreaming he half wondered if it was a good dream or if she was mad that he hadn't driven her home.

Her expression seemed to be confused as she murmured something, "Am I hallucinating now?"

Adam sat his chair closer to her bed and he left the tv on as background noise but he was instead watching her. She was going through something but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was. When the nurse came in he told her what Chloe was doing and demanded they wake her up.

@Kyrisse