Born To Die

XIII: One More Sunset

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One More Sunset

It was only natural that Rose went to her father. Following some old, deep instinct, she went to his study.

Her skin felt warm, and her heart swelled in her chest. She could nearly taste blood as her teeth pressed against her lip. She had rejected all of Bradley's calls. Ignored his texts. It wasn't that she didn't want anything to do with him, but she wouldn't have known what to say if she was forced to confront him.

Rose found herself at the door of his study, hand positioned to knock. She stared at the fine cherrywood as she had every day of her childhood. How many times had she stood outside of that room? Countless times. Over and over. She never knocked. So she pushed open the door, hesitating under the threshold. Rose found her father sitting at his desk, and her heart filled with an odd sense of nostalgia and grief. She nearly turned around to leave when he finally glanced at her. His eyes were filled with affection and apprehension, and she could no longer force herself to turn away. Not now. Still, she hesitated on the last step, clenched her jaw, and took a seat across from him, hand clutching the cherrywood armrests of the chair.

It felt like no one else in the world existed — just Iceman and Rose. Ever since, they could barely hold a conversation, and they were almost never alone in a room together. It used to be easy. She never used to hesitate. Eventually, the dreaded words spilled from her lips.

"There are some things I need to say to you. Things I should have said a long, long time ago."

Iceman drew in a deep breath, nodding slowly like he had been waiting for this. Expecting this. He always knew her better than she knew herself. He leaned back in his chair and waited for her to speak. How long had it been since she had let him in? Those days after what had happened to her, she had barely spoken to anyone, much less him. But he sat with her day and night, held her hand in his, talked to people on her behalf, wiped her tears when she cried, and held her hair when she coughed out pain and grief.

He was there. And she had left him.

"I know I let you down. By running away. By not coming back. By letting you think I might be gone for good. I know I hurt you," Rose spoke, her voice and her composure faltering, "I've hurt a lot of people. And I know I'm still hurting you."

Now, the tears began to fall with no chance of stopping. They blurred her vision, and she blinked furiously to still see him. To really look at him in the eyes for the first time in a very long time.

"I was ashamed. But it was never your fault. I never wanted to hurt you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

One hand reached out to hold hers tightly as the other raised to softly brush away her tears. Iceman only smiled. And that was all he had to do.

He had never blamed her.

Rose raised her hand to hold his that was pressed against her cheek.

"I've missed you since then," she confessed, "I'm scared I'm always going to miss you."

Iceman pulled her into his embrace, cheek pressed against the top of her head. When they finally broke apart, it was no more than a few inches. He slowly stood up, and Rose stood with him, still holding onto his hand. She furrowed her eyebrows as he led her to the door.