Starcrossed

"How did you…?" Makenzie's dangerous glare moved from the unwelcomed visitor to her best friend. "Sophie?" She felt betrayed and wanted an explanation.

"I might have told him where you worked… and lived."

"You're supposed to be on my bloody side!" the brunette hissed with venom in her tone.

"Well, just this once, I went on someone else's side. But I promise it was for you."

What could Kenzie say? On the rare occasion, she found herself quite speechless. Sophie gave her a quick unreturned embrace then walked out of the house with a single look towards the celebrity in the room. When the blonde tried to smile Ben gave forced his own attempt of a grin. That was when Makenzie started pacing about the silent room. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife.

"What are you doing here?" Her accusing expression only fueled his determination.

"I missed you." An honest statement to accompany those sad eyes.

"I didn't ask why you're here. What do you wish to accomplish during this little visit?" She continued nervously walking about the room as Ben stayed planted in his spot in front of the sofa table.

"I was hoping you'd be my date to a movie premiere." He could see beyond her sudden look of disgust.

"And I'm supposed to say yes because you came to my work and home to ask?"

Headstrong Makenzie could do this all day and they both knew it. Simple statements of truth weren't working for him so Benedict grew a bit more brave. If he couldn't have simple conversation with her, he was going to speak the difficult facts that would silence her. Even if she was quiet for only a few moments perhaps it would be long enough for her to take in what he was saying. It was a chance he had to take. The time for games and giving up had passed.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to figure things out. And I have been utterly miserable since you left."

The young woman finally met his eyes only to move her stare to the window. She forced a cough and then the first miracle; her voice softened the way he remembered from their first intimate London conversations. "You've kept yourself quite busy, yeah? Everything from racecars to Japan? Congratulations by the way. You're quite the topic of media discussion this year."

"Yes. And I want you by my side. I'm begging you, Kenzie." He finally took a few steps towards her. Taking her shoulders in his hands crossed his mind but it was too soon for physical contact. So they stood a foot apart, her large eyes searching his for something he prayed he could grant her. "With all the fantastic things going on in my life, I'm still not satisfied."

The beauty was a bit more shy when answering, "I know. I could see it in your eyes. Every forced smile in every interview. The little things you would say or do." A thoughtful pause- just how much did she want to reveal to him now that he was here in the flesh?. "I went to Comic-Con, Benedict. Thought you would be there but you weren't. Saw your Sherlock thing- how you faked your fall."

He grinned, remembering the day he wrote the daft little speech. It came from imagining what would make her laugh and smile. The little clip turned out to be an internet phenomenon, or so he was told by his manager. Her idea was brilliant and did wonders for their marketing. Clever her.

"Well, it was some good advice. A person very dear to me suggested it." It was his turn to fall silent. He looked to the floor then back up to her with that pleading stare that secretly made her heart ache. "Makenzie, you have to know that it was all for you. Everything about me in the last several months has been about, for, and even to you."

Her eyes began to mist, she shook her head, and her voice even trembled when she begged, "Please don't say that. You were all of this long before me. Meeting a clever uni student doesn’t change someone's fate."

"It does if he fell in love with her. Complete and unconditional love."

Benedict couldn't take it a moment longer. He had to touch her. He needed to feel her skin against his, even if it meant her punching him in defense. To his delight, she didn't remove his hands from her shoulders. His stare was so forceful. So this is what it looked like when a man was fighting for a girl, fighting with everything inside of him.

Makenzie pulled finally herself from his touch, more afraid of herself than ever before. She walked over to the window in hopes that he wouldn't see her building tears. Weakness wasn't an option, not while he was there. His frustrated growl startled her but she didn't look back.

"Aren't you tired of fighting?"

An objective of his had been to light some sort of spark in her, force some reaction out of her, but he didn't expect that to be the line of dialogue to do the job.

Kenzie turned on her heels. The fierce creature marched directly towards him shouting, "I am more tired than you could possibly imagine." They were nose to nose now.

"Then why continue?" He breathed with all the pain from the last several months trapped in his desperate stare. Was he about to cry? "Why not give into it?"

"Because it will hurt," she finally began to cry with her own tortured expression. His next question was almost audible. No, she wasn't a virgin. "Not physically but emotionally." It was then that she realized the lengths he was going to figure her out. At this point, anything was a valid clue to him. "I'm not strong enough to-"

Ben took her red face into his hands as their eyes locked in a tangible way that made them both tremble.

"I will never let anything happen to you. I swear it."

"Don't swear," she ordered unconvincingly. He cut her off before she continued.

"I swear that nothing will ever happen to you."

Before the ever present and shouting voice of reason could utter its first word, Makenzie chose to believe him. Even if it wasn't true, she had to believe- if only for the night.

"Why are you fighting for this so hard?" It was her turn to look helpless and defeated.

There. Ben finally felt as if he was looking down at the girl he met from London. Her posture, voice, and gentle stare had returned to the way he remembered. The angry young woman seemed to have evaporated. A grin of relief played on his lips just before he brushed her tears away with his thumbs. Her eyes closed and her cheek pressed into his hand, now longing for his touch. When his hands slowly moved her face closer to his, those blue teary eyes opened to him. He was looking at his Makenzie for the first time since their last night together.

"I'm fighting for this because… Sometime between Gower Street and seeing you off at Heathrow… Makenzie, I'm so in love with you that it hurts. These last several months have hurt, despite the fame and celebrity rubbish." She only stared up at him, her face annoyingly unreadable. "I love you," he repeated in a shaky low rumble. Were those three words enough? Or did she need more proof that he was one hundred percent serious? "And I-"

Kenzie pulled him by the shirt then claimed his mouth very suddenly, passionately. It was by far the most urgent kiss they had shared- up to that point. As soon as he realized that her walls had just come down, Ben pulled her body as close to his as possible. This brought a soft moan from her, such a wonderful sound. Their kisses became a fight for dominance. There was so much she wanted to tell him through the dance of their lips while he battled to seal their relationship with his own rough kisses and sounds of need. The girl gently bit then sucked on his bottom lip drawing a deep ragged breath from him. During his Top Gear interview, he had claimed to like being the dominant one- she was going to make him fight for it.

"My Makenzie," he quickly whispered.

Ben opened his eyes long enough to ensure that their path was clear. His fingers dug into her hips as he forced her backwards. Though their lips never parted they crossed the room, both panting and holding the other for dear life. He pushed her against the wall, reminding them both of their first intimate moment at Mark's.

His hips grinded into her sending waves of electric through her body and making her knees weak. Her hands immediately grabbed at his shirt. Once the unnecessary material was out of the way, Kenzie jumped onto him. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her fingers dug into his curls. Ben grabbed her butt to keep her right where she was. Their kisses continued, deepened, and roamed until he pulled his lips apart from hers.

"Which bedroom is yours?" he gasped.

Makenzie pointed but didn't waste another second before attacking his neck. The pair made it half way down the hall before his jeans became painfully tight. Oh she wasn't making it easy on him. If she continued what she was doing, he wasn't going to be able to make it to her room. This was a problem because the narrow hallway wasn't near enough space to make love to her the way he wanted to.

"Hold on, precious girl," he panted with wobbly legs. Ben pushed the door open then threw her onto the thick navy duvet.

He left her only to close the door but returned as soon as the brief task allowed. Ben climbed on top of her then paused. Their eyes met in the final moment of truth.

"Is this what you want?"

It only took two heart beats for her to decide. Benedict had become her everything and she suddenly regretted the time she had selfishly wasted. She believed that every person had their one true match but she hadn't accepted that he could be hers until that minute. Her walls had come down so suddenly that she began to question why she had fought against him so hard. Yes, the reason was still alive in her mind but her heart had finally become the stronger of the two. She wanted him. All of him. The future could be dealt with tomorrow. The regrets and consequences of these actions would be quick to haunt her yet she was done running. Now was her time. Their time.

"I love you. Always have and will as long as there is breath in me to love."

"You aren't just saying this because-"

"You're right, Ben. I'm tired of fighting something I've wanted from the first moment I bumped into you. I love you Benedict. With all my heart I've always been yours."

He unexpectedly crushed his lips to hers, moving his body in preparation to ravish her for hours. Everything he needed was in his arms. Her heart had finally won over her relentless worries. She was finally his.