Title: Accidentally in Love
Rating: PG
Summary: When Caleb and Will find themselves trapped in Meridian will they see something that was always right in front of them? Will and Caleb Pairing.
Disclaimer: They're not mine.
Author's Note: I've only ever seen the TV show, so that's what this is based on. For some reason, I really like the idea of Will and Caleb together, especially since I finally saw the episode "It Resumes," and it triggered this story in mind that just wouldn't go away. For the purposes of the story the episode with the final battle never happened, and Matt never found out that Will was a Guardian. Hope you enjoy!

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Caleb sat straight up in bed, gasping for air and drenched in sweat. His eyes swept over the boxes and restaurant supplies and breathed a sigh of relief. He was on Earth…it had been a dream…only a dream…he thought as he swung his legs out from under the covers and rested his arms on his legs.

He had been dreaming about Meridian. There had been a battle; people were dying and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. It had been so vivid…so real. Caleb glanced around the restaurant basement that also served as his bedroom on Earth, considering the source of his anxiety. He had been on Earth for two weeks this time, and while he was here he was completely cut off from what was going on at home.

It had been over a year… A year of fighting…a year of death and destruction… A year since Elyon's coronation…something that was supposed to make everything better, but it hadn't. Phobos hadn't drained her powers as he had planned, but instead had chosen to rule through her. They had shown her the true Meridian, but she had still chosen to believe Phobos and didn't trust the Guardians.

It had been a tiring year and it was beginning to take its toll on all of them. The girls had started to become more withdrawn. The only outsiders they would let in were Mrs. Lin, who they would never be able to get rid of (nor did they want to), and Matt, Will's boyfriend. Although Caleb didn't think they were going to be together for much longer.

Of course, he and Cornelia were on rocky ground as well. The loss of her oldest friend, and the fact that Elyon believed Phobos over her, had caused her to become more withdrawn resulting in a strain on their relationship. She was also losing the will to fight. Cornelia would help when she was needed by the other Guardians, but would rarely join in voluntarily. Caleb's need to do more, and Cornelia's lack of belief in their fight was making it harder and harder for them to be together.

Luckily, Will, and through her the others, still believed in their fight, and they were doing everything in their power to rid Meridian of evil.

Caleb's heartbeat had finally returned to normal, and he had gotten up to get dressed. The dream was still running through his mind, and he felt like he needed to do something. He just didn't know what. Something was wrong at home; he was sure of it. He glanced over at the map of Meridian that he had drawn and taped to the wall, and groaned in frustration. This was ridiculous…he was overreacting. It had only been a dream…but what if it wasn't?

Will…if he found Will she could open a portal for him and he could see for himself. He could reassure himself that everything was fine.

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Will watched the ducks floating down the river as she listened to Matt rambling on about…something. Unfortunately, she had stopped listening to him twenty minutes earlier. They were at the park enjoying a picnic…well, he seemed to be enjoying it…she was bored to tears. Somehow it all seemed so frivolous…sitting here listening to her boyfriend babbling on about his band being chosen to play at the school dance again this year, while she was mentally reviewing battle plans.

It wasn't Matt's fault; he didn't know what was really happening in her life. Will had never told him she was a Guardian of the Veil, and she had never had any intention of telling him. He didn't even know what the Veil was! But she was tired of lying to him…tired of pretending to be something she wasn't. Tired of pretending to be a normal human girl. She was a Guardian…a fact of life she had accepted a long time ago. Truth be told, she liked being a Guardian. In the beginning she had liked that he was separate from that part of her life, but now…now he didn't seem to fit. She had been trying to end things for a few weeks now, but so far she hadn't been able to do it.

Will watched as Matt got more and more excited about the dance and wished she felt the same way. She felt the Heart of Candracar through her jeans pocket and reminded herself that it would be for the best. She couldn't keep pretending to be two different people; it wasn't fair to either of them. Will knew she needed to break up with him, but every time she tried to he would give her that smile that would make her knees go weak and she would talk herself out of it.

Will had been lost in her thoughts for so long that she hadn't noticed that Matt had stopped talking. She glanced over to find him staring at her expectantly. Had he asked her a question?

Will took a deep breath. This was it…time to end it. "Matt…I think…" And that was as far as she got before being interrupted by Caleb's voice calling her name. She turned in the direction his voice had come from, and saw Caleb running towards them, obviously concerned. Something must have happened, and she unexpectedly felt relief sweep over her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, never so happy to seem him as she was now.

"I need your help," Caleb answered, gasping for air after having run all over town in search of the red haired Guardian.

Will nodded in understanding as she pushed herself up off the ground. She brushed the grass off of her jeans, and gazed down at Matt, who was still sitting on the ground. Then she looked at Caleb before turning back to Matt. "I'm sorry. I have to go," she said as she bent down and gave Matt a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you later," she promised. Will turned to Caleb and nodded before turning and walking away without giving Matt the opportunity to say anything.

Caleb apologized for pulling her away from her date, but Will just shrugged in response. She wasn't that upset by it. In fact, she felt some relief…she had never broken up with anyone before, and she really wasn't looking forward to it. The longer she could put it off the better.

"What's going on?" she asked after they had walked about a block in silence. Will glanced at Caleb out of the corner of her eye; he seemed to be more on edge than usual.

"I don't know," Caleb answered with a sigh of frustration. "I…you're going to think this is so stupid. I had this dream…well, nightmare really…about a battle in Meridian and I just need to …" Caleb's sentence trailed off as he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. This had sounded a lot less dumb in his head.

"Prove to yourself that it really was just a dream?" Will finished for him, smiling slightly. "I don't think that's stupid." And she didn't. She knew how hard it was for him to be out of touch, and how much he hated it. Will met his eyes and he nodded, glad that she understood. "But we should probably get the others just in case," she continued.

Without warning Caleb stopped walking and Will took a few more steps before realizing that he was no longer beside her. Getting the other Guardians had never occurred to him. What if he was wrong? What if it had just been a dream? If he made Cornelia go to Meridian and there wasn't anything wrong she would never forgive him; and he didn't think their relationship would survive the additional strain. Will had stopped and was now staring at him.

"Do we have to take the others?" Caleb asked after another moment. "It's just…what if I'm worried about nothing and it was just a dream?"

Will sighed and watched the people wandering around them. "So what do you want to do?" she asked, shrugging. She understood why he didn't want to get the others, but she didn't think going to Meridian alone was such a good idea.

Caleb shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight nervously as he thought about what he wanted them to do for a couple of minutes. "How about this?" he finally said. "You open a portal, we go through, check things out, and we're back before anyone knows we've gone."

Will contemplated his suggestion as she shoved her hand in her pocket, and wrapped it around the Heart. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What if there really is something wrong?"

"If there is then we'll come back for the others."

Will met Caleb's eyes again. He was really afraid that something was seriously wrong. This was a bad idea… She knew she should argue with him; she should insist that they bring the other Guardians. But she was afraid that if she that he would just find a portal and go on his own. That would be even worse.

She finally nodded in agreement, and led Caleb into an alley before pulling out the Heart of Candracar. She held it over her head and changed herself into her Guardian form. After looking herself over, she held the Heart in front of her, opening a portal to Meridian.

Caleb watched the blue sphere pulsing with electricity and felt of wave of excitement sweep over him. He loved this part. Caleb glanced at Will with a big grin on his face, before walking through the portal. Will grinned back and followed him through; then she turned and closed the portal behind them. Caleb scanned the area around them, looking for landmarks in order to get his bearings. A minute later he pointed and began walking towards the village. Will fluttered her wings and flew a few feet above him.

As they approached the village they began to hear the sounds of a battle. Will flew higher and told Caleb what was happening: the rebels were fighting with Phobos' soldiers…and the rebels were highly out numbered. As soon as Caleb was able to see it he ran to join the fight.

"Caleb!" Will called as he ran onto the battleground. What was he doing? What happened to the plan to get the other Guardians? He wasn't supposed to join in! She flew higher and watched in stunned disbelief as he got further away from her. If Caleb survived this fight she was going to kill him. Well, she was going to get the others; there were too many of them to fight alone. She pulled the Heart back out and prepared to open another portal, but just as she was about to she saw two soldiers closing in on Caleb. She flew closer to them and yelled to get Caleb's attention before focusing her power, and firing a couple of pink energy beams at the soldiers. They went down and Caleb shot her a grateful look before hurrying away from them, going deeper in the fray. She shook her head and continued fighting off soldiers in order to help the rebels, abandoning the idea of going for help.

Out of nowhere the reptilian Cedric appeared in the center of the battlefield. He must have been in his human form before now because she hadn't noticed him…and he was kind of hard to miss. Cedric roared as he grew in size, and Will immediately began surveying the ground looking for Caleb. She and Cedric spotted him at the same time, and both rushed towards him. Unfortunately, Cedric reached him first.

"Caleb!" she screamed as Cedric grabbed him with his tail, and began flying faster.

The evil creature lifted Caleb off the ground, and wrapped his serpentine body around the rebel leader. Phobos would be pleased; the rebel leader was quite the prize, Cedric thought. He smiled to himself and started to slither away dragging the captured rebel behind him. Then something flying caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, and he turned towards it. It was the red haired Guardian; the one who controlled the Heart! He quickly scanned the area, but didn't see any signs of the other Guardians. She was getting closer, and realized she must be coming after the rebel leader. Cedric turned a calculating eye to the rebel leader; he was sure that Phobos would much rather have the Guardian who controlled the Heart of Candracar than a rebel. And was he sure to be greatly rewarded for capturing a Guardian.

With another smile Cedric raised his tail and threw Caleb as hard as he could. Caleb slammed to the ground with a groan, and raised his head slightly only to discover that he was now on the fringe of the fight. At the sound of Will's scream he pushed himself up off the ground and watched in dismay as Cedric grabbed her from behind and coiled himself around her.

"No! Will!" Caleb cried as he pushed himself up completely. She screamed again as the coils tightened around her and he lost sight of her. With another groan he ran towards them, pulling an abandoned sword out of a body as he ran.

Will screamed within the cocoon Cedric had created with his body. She pounded against him with her fists as he slowly smothered her. This isn't working, she thought as the space around her got smaller and smaller. Will took a few deep breaths and forced herself to relax. She reached inside herself for her power and released it imagining a shield of energy around her. She slowly pushed it away, making the shield larger and the coils around her loosened.

Caleb stopped running when he saw the pink light emanating from in between Cedric's coils. He stood in stunned silence, watching as the coils loosened around her, and realized that Will must be using her power to fight back. He could see Cedric's struggle to push against Will's energy field, and Caleb fought his way through the others fighting to get to her.

But as he got closer the pink light began to fade. She was getting weaker and he still wasn't close enough to help her. The light faded completely and Cedric tightened around her again. Then in a moment of sheer terror Caleb did the only thing he could think of to help her; he threw the sword at Cedric and the blade hit home in the beast. Cedric roared in pain and released Will, dropping her on the ground.

Caleb ran towards her still body lying on the ground. Her eyes were open and she was breathing heavily. "Will?" Caleb said anxiously. "Can you move? We have to get out of here." He couldn't remember ever feeling as relieved as he did when she turned her head to look at him, and raised her hand towards him. Caleb grabbed her arm, wrapping it around his shoulders, and wrapped his other arm around her waist pulling her to her feet. He ran for safety half-carrying, half-dragging Will with him, with the other surviving rebels following.

When they had gotten a safe distance away Caleb stopped to catch his breath. Will started to fall down, but he tightened his arm around her waist holding her up. Then he really looked at her for the first time. He had never seen her so pale. Weak and exhausted, she was having a difficult time staying on her feet.

"Can you open a portal?" Caleb asked.

Will pulled out the Heart of Candracar and held it in front of her as she focused her power on opening a portal. Caleb and the other rebels watched the open air in front of them expectantly…but nothing happened. Will lowered her arm. "I can't," she said, fighting for every breath.

Okay, she was really scaring him, he thought. Now what were they going to do? "We have to hide," Caleb stated as he turned to face the other rebels. "We need to get to the Infinite City. It's the only place safe enough."

The rebels looked at their leader and nodded in agreement. Caleb adjusted his hold on Will, and they had only taken a couple of steps when Will's legs finally gave out and she fell to the ground. Caleb immediately kneeled down beside her, concern evident on his face.

"I can't do it," Will whispered weakly. She met Caleb's eyes, and he was surprised to find tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Caleb reached up and brushed some hair out of her eyes. "No, I'm sorry," he apologized quietly. "It's my fault."

At that moment Aldarn, Caleb's best friend, kneeled next to them with a worried expression. "What's wrong? Is she all right?" he asked quietly.

"I think she drained her power fighting off Cedric. She can't open a portal, so we need to get somewhere safe," Caleb explained. Aldarn nodded and stood to explain to the other rebels.

Caleb returned his attention to Will. She obviously couldn't walk, and they would have to walk some distance. And if she couldn't walk, then he doubted that she could fly. He would have to carry her.

"Wrap your arms around my neck," Caleb suggested as he grabbed her hands. She did so as he wrapped one arm around her back, and the other under her knees lifting her off the ground. Will closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck, and it wasn't long before she slipped into unconsciousness.

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Caleb entered the small cave within the Infinite City that served as his bedroom when he was in Meridian, and gently laid Will on the straw mattress on the floor and covered her with a blanket. After making sure she was comfortable he turned to face Aldarn, who had followed him.

"Now what?" Aldarn asked.

Now what? That was a good question. He glanced at Will in his bed. She had been in and out of consciousness, and was currently out. Caleb needed a plan. He needed…the other Guardians. He needed a portal. "I need you to find the passling, Blunk," Caleb stated quietly.

"Why?"

Caleb glanced back over at Will. "Because he can find us a portal."