Topic: Moonflower

Suggested by: Rainpath

A/N: My apologies on the delay, this was originally a Joey/Adriane but it was AWFUL so I trashed it and went with this instead…my apologies if I didn't get the moonflower correct, I tried looking it up and got a sundry of species, some were deadly, some were used as medicine, some were a few inches across, some were 5 feet. I had to improvise…

Emily Fletcher loved sunsets. They were so beautiful the way the sky subtly changed to such drastic hues. They were the same even here in Aldenmore. If anything she thought the Aldenmore sunsets were even more brilliant than the ones back home. A light breeze lifted her curls away from her face as she rested her chin on her knees hugged close to her chest.

"What are you doing?" She had been so at peace and gone to the world that Zach's voice had startled her badly.

"Oh my gosh Zach, don't do that!" she gasped as he laughed.

"Sorry, I didn't really sneak up on you or anything though," Laughing at herself she pulled her knees back up to her as she stared at the sky once again. "So what are you doing?"

"Watching the sunset," she told him, a little surprised that it wasn't so obvious. She heard his footsteps as he moved to stand behind her and watch the sky as well. "When is Adriane supposed to be back?" she asked after a small bout of silence.

Zach sighed "I'm not sure, she said she'd be back sometime after dark," Emily sighed too. Adriane had rushed off with the Drake after being summoned by the fairimentals to the Fairy Glade though about what Emily wasn't sure. Marlin couldn't get away from the castle for the day and Kara had dropped a few not-so-subtle hints that she would prefer to be alone with Lorren today, leaving Emily with Zach. It wasn't that she minded really, it just wasn't often that she spent so much time with the dragon rider.

Silently she resumed mentally recording the sun's decent. Zach was silent the whole time, only shifting from foot to foot every few seconds. When the final rays or light were retreating below the horizon Emily stood, hearing her bones audibly crack after sitting for too long and stretched out her limbs.

"Can I show you something?" Zach blurted in such a rush that Emily had to ask him to repeat himself.

"Um, alright," she obliged after understanding the question.

"Great!" Without warning Zach bolted off further into the woods.

"Whoa!" With a yelp of surprise she tore after him, finding without much surprise that he was indeed a great deal faster than she was. She was focusing so much on keeping up that she didn't realize he had stopped in time to stop herself and collided roughly with his back. With a grunt he stumbled forward a few steps but was all in all unfazed as Emily wobbled a bit dazed and still huffing. "What was that about?" she gasped, leaning up against the nearest tree for support.

"Sorry," he blushed a deep red and looking embarrassedly at the ground, "I just didn't want you to miss it,"

"Miss what?" She panting she followed Zach's gesture to take in the many green flower buds that grew around the bases of the trees around them. Emily raised an eyebrow, too tired to even ask what was so special about the unblooming flowers.

Zach's smile only grew as he pointed to a bud near Emily's feet. She stared at it for a moment uncertainly and then she felt her eyes go wide as the little plant twitched. To her amazement the bud began to open, revealing bright white petals right before her eyes. It bloomed quickly and certainly, extending out its pale petals to the world. Within a minute's time a full flower sat proudly before her.

Amazed and rather impressed with the little flower that bloomed so quickly she looked back to Zach, only to see the little flower's brothers and sisters all blooming and twitching as well. Zach stood in the midst of it all, a proud smile on his face. "They're called Moonflowers," he explained.

"They're unbelievable," she whispered, turning left and right to watch them all.

"They bloom at night and then close up in the morning."

"Wow, this is amazing Zach!" Finally catching her breath she sunk down beside the first flower and stared at them all, glowing bright white in the murky twilight of the forest.

"I thought you'd like it," his voice was quieter and his proud smile had turned into something a bit shyer.

Emily kept her eyes as wide as she could, still in awe of the beauty of it all. Zach sat down on the other side of the flower. "Adriane didn't get it,"

"Huh?"

"Adriane didn't get it. She didn't get why I like it here," Zach whispered, a bright crimson blush spreading across his face as he looked purposefully out into the night.

"Well it's beautiful, no matter what she says," Emily assured him with a smile. Gently she reached out a hand and stroked the petal of the nearest flower with her finger.

"I knew you'd like it," Zach voice was even quieter than before. Hesitantly he reached out and touched the petal opposite the one she had her finger on. For a moment they sat quite still like that before Zach very tentatively moved across the flower and brushed Emily's fingers breezily with his own.

Emily froze as he traced delicately across her hand, her face burning. She looked hurriedly to his face, but a shock of blonde hair covered his eyes. Suddenly the pressure was gone from her hand as Zach curled his fingers up and pulled away, obviously a bit wounded by her rejection.

Without thinking Emily instantly reached out and quickly intertwined her fingers with his. Zach's eyes met hers in surprise as they both stared at one another, not quite sure what to think or do at the moment. Emily looked away first, unable to continue staring into his bright blue eyes and too embarrassed to let him see the uncontrollable smile that was quickly forming on her lips.

With a fresh blush on her face she gently squeezed his hand as he leaned his shoulder against her own, burning her skin where he touched her.

Emily still wasn't quite sure what had happened or how it had happened, all she knew was she wasn't regretting it. Leaning against him in turn they sat silently, watching the world around them as they waited for one of the others to return.

Eh, I thought it was cute. The ending was a little bleh but I wasn't sure how to wrap up. Again unedited by anyone other than me, so let me know if there is any mistakes. There is a possibility I will change it…Hope you liked it!