I Just Had to Lick the Cookie, Didn't I?

You're waking up
Apart of me I've never known
And I've never felt
So invincible
What took you so far away?
You hold the rights I'll never own
And I've never felt
So alien
Don't tear us apart again

---------

MILO'S POV

"Mmmf," I moaned into something. There was an annoying knocking coming from the door. I'd just had the greatest dream, and I didn't want to wake up.

Suddenly my eyes shot open. Since when did I sleep? I jerked myself up and blinked a few times.

A soft moaning sound caught my attention. It sure as hell wasn't me, so who could it have been?

When I looked down, I had to take a double take. Adriaan, my Adriaan, was sleeping right there in front of me. I smiled when I realized that my dream hadn't been a dream after all.

"Room service, I'll come back another time," a maid called. I rolled my eyes, still smiling and flopped back down next to my official---no strings attached---fiancee. We. Were. Getting. Married. END OF STORY.

"What time is it?" Adriaan asked sleepily as she rolled over. My room was still fairly dark, but with the sun shining directly at the window, even the curtains couldn't block it all out.

"I don't care," I said happily. I didn't have to care. There was nothing I needed to do anymore until I felt like it. I'd graduated from medical school, they sent me my diploma. I'd kicked Matthew Christians' ass already. I'd decided not to care about my family anymore. And, as of the night before, I'd officially been engaged to Adriaan.

There's some irony for you. My parents set up an arranged marriage which they hadn't planed on me following through with. Then they separated me from my 'fiancee', ending the arrangement. And THEN my 'fiancee' and I found each other again and decided to get married anyway. I was sure mom and dad were going to be thrilled.

"Oh shit," Adriaan muttered. I could just see the outlines of her face, and I wanted desperately to rip open the curtains and see her again.

"What is it?"

"I had to work today. I need to call in or something. What do people do when they can't make it to work?" she asked. I chuckled.

"They call in, just like you said."

"Great... Do you have a phone? I've had this job for...I don't know how long, but it wasn't a very long time. I'd rather quit if anything. Being fired would make me sad."

I rolled over and grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand. Adriaan took it when I handed it to her and then I rolled back over. She just stared at the phone for a minute.

"What is it?" I asked her. She looked up at me all innocent like, and I couldn't help but grin.

"I don't know the number," she whispered with a look of pure horror. I laughed at her and then took my phone.

"Where do you work?"

"Eh... Some stable. Hakim got me the job, I really didn't want to do it, but I kind of like it now," she told me. The way she sneered her brother's name worried me, but I put the thought in the back of my head and made a note to ask her later.

"I'll call the place I basically own. I'm sure they'll be able to give us the number for where ever you've been working." Adriaan nodded as I held down the seven on my phone. John was on speed dial. He worked at my stable directly for me and he'd know what place Adriaan was working at.

"Hey-lo?" John asked once he picked up. I smiled, it had been too long.

"John, it's Maelogan."

"OH! Hey bud, I's been worried abouts ya. That Gary fella said that yous was sick. Are ya better now?" he asked worriedly.

"Much better, John. Thank you for asking. Look, I need to ask you a favor. I'm looking for the number of a stable, but I don't know what the name of it is..."

"It has something like Hills in it, I swear," Adriaan whispered. I nodded.

"It has the word hills in it..."

"Wells, this is Stony Hills here. Is that it?" he told me. I looked at Adriaan, who was watching me intently. Could she have really been working at my stable this whole time?

"Is it Stony Hills?" I asked her, hiding the fact that I was very interested in the outcome.

Adriaan beamed.

"Yes! Wow, how could I have forgotten that? It's so simple..." she laughed.

"Hey, uh, John, let Lois know that Adriaan won't be in to work today."

"Adriaan Ryker?" he asked incredulously.

"Yea," I replied softly. For some reason it was too hard to comprehend the fact that Adriaan had been working so close to me this entire time. If I'd only been less depressed...

"That's a shame. That girl works miracles. She's been working with me, you knows. Her and that horse you bought have gotten awful close real fast..."

I smiled. Somehow---I wasn't about to question how---Adriaan had met Adonis, the horse I had bought for her. It was perfect.

"Thanks John. Maybe I'll come by later."

"Sees ya later," he said and then hung up. I closed my own phone and looked at Adriaan.

"So, you've been working at Stony Hills?" I asked her. She snapped out of her thoughts and met my gaze.

"Yep. It was really nice except for this weird kid kind of stalked me. Creepy..."

"Teivel?" I asked. That kid was strange. Very strange. To tell you the truth, I was positive he'd grow up to be some sort of criminal... He didn't work at my stable, he just boarded his horse there. His parents literally paid me half a million a year. If it weren't for that and the blackmail, I wouldn't let him stay.

"How'd you know?" she asked in amazement.

"You've been working at my stable," I told her softly.

"You're kidding me," she said seriously. I shook my head.

"No. You've been working at my stable with my friend John. And, I actually have something else to tell you..."

"What?" Adriaan inquired curiously. I grinned at her and shifted my body into a more comfortable position.

"This is really kind of embarrassing, but you know the horse you were helping John with? Yea, I bought him back in January for you. I was going to wait to let you know, but... All of this happened and I never got the chance. At least it sounds like you like him," I said, attempting to add humor to the situation.

"Like him? He... I used to feel like nothing could ever make me get back into horses at all, but... For some reason I feel like... I feel like I can accept my losses and grasp on to what could be with him. He reminds me of Metamorphic in so many ways. At first it kind of hurt, but then I realized that that's exactly what I'd wanted all along. Not a replacement really, but a reminder. You know?" she confided. Her struggle to get it all out made me happy. I was happy because she made an effort to share with me such personal things. It made me feel like I mattered.

"Yes, I know."

"HELLO!?" a voice yelled, pounding on the room door. It was Gary, he'd been doing the exact same thing for weeks.

"Come in!" I shouted back. With a jiggle of the door handle, Gary popped in with a huge grin. I smiled back at him.

"Hallelujah!" he exclaimed, walking in further and letting the door shut behind him. When he reached the end of the bed, he stopped and looked Adriaan and me over. His eyes went wide for a second. "Okay, wow. I am taking you," he said, pointing to Adriaan, "shopping. And you, mister," he stated, pointing at me, "need to get things put together. There's a ton to do. We need to contact where ever Adriaan was staying before and get all of her things. Oh, and we need to talk with the psychos and Adriaan's parents because I know everyone is a little messed up and stupid... Oh, and Milo, you need to start looking for a house here. There is no way I'm letting you live in France. No way. Alright, so that about sums it up. I'm taking the dogs out really quick, but when I get back you both had better be dressed and ready to go. Here, I brought you some pants Adriaan." Gary nodded curtly after handing Adriaan a folded pair of pants and then left the room.

"Whoa," Adriaan sighed. "He's organized. Sort of... I think..."

"You have no idea," I whispered back. Both of us were still staring at the door where Gary had just left. "So, uh, I'm going to get dressed now."

I stood up and walked over to my dresser. Adriaan watched me blankly until I opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans.

"Should Ibe concerned?" I asked Adriaan hesitantly, feeling concerned for my pride due to her suddenly mischievous expression.

"No," she sighed airily, hopping off of the bed and smiling devilishly at me. "I just, you know, am utterly fascinated with your hotness." I eyed her carefully as she sauntered up to be. When she was standing I front of me, she smiled suspiciously once more and then flicked my chest. "I just thought I'd share you with the world," she said, backing up toward the curtain-covered window.

"You wouldn't," I told her, starting to take steps to catch her. All Adriaan did was grin and reach her arms out behind her back, trying to find the curtains. When she was close enough, she grabbed on to the heavy curtains and somehow managed to pull them open.

The bright morning light streamed in and caused me to blink quite a few times in order to adjust. Once I could see, Adriaan's evil grin caught my attention. Determined to shut the curtains so that all of central park wouldn't be able to see into my room, I reached to grab a hold of one of the heavy things. Adriaan leaned over to stop me. I leaned back and then tried to do the same on the other side. Once again, Adriaan stopped me. It took me a second to figure out what to do, but after I figured it out I couldn't help but smile to myself.

"Should I be concerned?" Adriaan asked me the same way I'd asked her.

"Possibly," I said nonchalantly. Adriaan's eyes scanned over me, but before she could register what was happening, I reached down and pulled the shirt she was wearing---that just so happened to be mine---over her head. She gasped when I waved the black cloth in front of her face and then crossed her arms.

"That wasn't very nice," she accused. I shrugged and crossed my own arms, grinning. "I suppose it's a good thing I'm perfectly comfortable being half naked in front of a window. Oh, and you can thank Gary for these wonderful panties that make my butt look phenomenal." Adriaan was smiling uncontrollably as my eye twitched.

A little jealous of any possible viewer of Adriaan's behind, I uncrossed my arms and grabbed her by the waist, only to turn around and set her down on the other side of me. Now I was standing with my back to the open window and Adriaan was grinning at me.

"Ha. Ha," she smiled, and then stuck her tongue out at me. I leaned back and crossed my arms again. Exhaling rather loudly, I examined Adriaan. Sadly, she looked like she'd lost weight, which disappointed me.

"I thought I told you that you needed to eat more food and put on weight?" I asked her, genuinely concerned with her health and well-being. That should have been obvious considering I had only proclaimed me love to her TWICE.

Adriaan stopped smiling and downcast her gaze to the floor.

"That's kind of the last thing on your mind when it feels like no one cares and you're all alone in the world. Besides being a kind of punishment, it was an excuse to make me feel something other than hopelessness," Adriaan told me quietly.

"You will never have to feel that way again, I promise," I pledged to her, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around her in a tight hug. "Now get dressed, Gary will be pissed if he comes back and has to wait for us."

Adriaan nodded into my chest and I let her go. She took a deep breath and then turned around to look for her pants. Honestly, I couldn't help but observe that---for lack of a more respectful term---her butt did look phenomenal in the underwear Gary had given her.

She crouched down when she noticed that her pants had fallen to the ground. I was still looking at her when she peeked her head over her shoulder and grinned at me.

"Are you checking me out Milo?" she accused playfully. I shook my head furiously and looked somewhere else. Adriaan stood up and turned to face me with her pants in her hand.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said innocently.

"Sure you don't," she laughed and casually managed to slip into the pants Gary had brought for her. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like that back," she said, gesturing to the shirt I had taken off of her.

"You mean you want my shirt back? I believe that's up to me, and I think I'll keep it..." I sighed and started to walk back to my dresser where I'd dropped my jeans back in the open drawer.

"No way. Finder's keepers. It's mine now," Adriaan stated and somehow ended up snatching the shirt from my hand. When her head emerged through the hole, I shook my head and smiled. We still had some things to get through, but once we did, I had the feeling we'd be on our way to a life as perfect as we could imagine. I'd make sure of it too.