A/N: So I know I said I wanted to get this finished by Christmas, and it seems I have failed in doing so. Something brought me to a standstill, and it felt like no matter what I wrote down, it didn't feel right. So rather than posting the worthless paragraphs and ruining this stories somewhat good reputation, I took a step back and stopped. I know it's been a while, but I felt that until I could get something good down it was better to have you wait rather than read crap.

Oh, there was that and I have also found myself lurking in the Resident Evil fanfic topic. I finally got to play RE 5, and I couldn't help myself (I'm a very obsessive person sometimes) Wesker is just too cool to ignore.

So anyway, here's the long awaited chapter, and I do hope it is somewhat better than its original. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

"I don't even understand why you're considering it." Denny spoke, and my head turned to the side once more.

It felt like my whole body was focused on darting between the four young men that were surrounding me. Each took their turn prodding me with their questions, and each time I was pulled up short, and without a worthwhile answer to sooth them with. So rather than speaking, for the most part I had opted to sitting and glancing between my companions with a look of bemusement, hoping that it would die down.

But the questions and statements kept on coming, and though I was not entirely sure how much time had elapsed from when I told them about the big 'opportunity' I was given and now, I was certain it had been well of half an hour.

Frustrated, I slapped the palm of my hand to my forehead. "Me neither, but at least I'm able to keep my cool about it."

"You aren't the one who is about to lose one of their best friends." Elliot piped in, though as the words left his mouth they became quieter and more feeble as they progressed.

I rolled my eyes at the sentimentality of his words. "No, I'm not. I'm losing all of them."

The men stopped and looked at each other. From Pierre, the man who was their the sate my human needs for food, Elliot, the quiet boy who was so easy to tease, and Denny, the man who I called my best friend in the whole world and the only person who I could openly relate to, they all held an important place in my heart. Even Mark, who was sitting silently with a miffed expression on his face, held a place. Though it was often hard to discern just how big and important that place was, it was a place nonetheless and I was not the one who was going to rip it away from him.

Denny sighed, swiping the purple bandanna off his head and wringing it between his hands. "Do you really have to do it? I mean...can't you just tell your mum no? You're life is great here." He said, his dark eyes falling to his hands.

I shrugged, unsure if things ever panned out that simply in my family. "I could try, but I doubt it would do much. My dad knows I love it here, but he's also very influenced with the idea of a stable living. And unfortunately, farming doesn't come under that title."

"I feel this is just a way to avoid a certain person." Mark quipped. I wasn't sure what was going through his head, and his emerald eyes were revealing nothing to me. Was he suggesting my distance between him, or the distance I had put in between me and Vaughn in the past weeks?

Either way, perhaps he was right. It wasn't something I would openly admit, but an escape like this was a doorway to many opportunities. And even if I ended up back on the island, I would have left enough time between now and then for everything to have...cooled over.

But that wasn't the kind of person I was. Perhaps, it might have fallen in somewhere as a second motive to back up the original idea that spurred me on, but it certainly would not work to persuade me on its own. Running away from life seemed such a cowardly thing to do. I suppose some amount of disapproval to the idea passed through in my expression, because I heard a quick apology usher its way from Marks mouth.

I closed my eyes, clasping my hands together as I stated the truth of the matter. "Vaughn isn't worth the worry. I tried, but if he's set on cutting me down so quickly every time I make some sort of progress, I really can't be bothered anymore."

"And here I was, going out of my way to apologise for my behaviour" A deep voice that could have only belonged to one person echoed out from behind me.

I whipped my head around to face the cowboy, my face showing just as much surprise as my companions. How did he sneak in without anyone noticing? And how did he know that we were all sitting comfortably in Denny's little shack?

Then I remembered he was a male, and he probably knew far more about these little get-togethers than I ever would, despite his rare presence.

I frowned, deciding that an apology for the words that came out of my mouth was not the road I would go down. For some reason, I felt like throwing another log on the fire. Maybe looking at him reminded me of the harsh reality that was not the pleasant dream I had experienced before.

"And would I be wrong to say that if it wasn't for Julia, you probably wouldn't be here?"

His weight shifted onto one leg, and his arms crossed his broad chest to show some level of defiance. "I would like to think you had a higher opinion of my own personal endeavours, Chelsea."

"I might have, Pokey." I shrugged, watching him grimace in the presence of his nickname. "But I think you lost that right."

Suddenly, I felt a hand swipe my shoulder, and I looked over to Denny glaring at me, questioning my motives behind the spike of emotions I had put forth. His dark eyes bore into mine, asking me where I had found all this agitation towards Vaughn.

He knew I had been missing him more than I was angry at him.

I blinked, and stood up in response to the look Denny gave me, and walked up to Vaughn. Up close, the vast height difference might have intimidated me. But today was not the day to curse the ability of genetic codes.

"I think we have a few things to discuss."

He nodded in response, and turned to open the door to the shack. Interestingly enough, he held it open for me to pass through before himself, a gentlemanly act I didn't expect him to be capable of. I gave one final look to all the people in the room, each of them stunned. Except for Denny, that is.

The door closed with a thud, and I was taking in the appearance of the beach. The sunlight sparkled on the water, making it appear as though a thousand diamonds floated across its surface. Vaughn was off already, his heavy boots sinking into the dry sand. I followed after him, blindly.

He said nothing, his thumbs dug into his dark belt as he continued to walk out from the beach. "Where are we going?" I asked, confused as to why a conversation I deemed to be short needed to place me at such a distance from my friends.

"Somewhere..." His voice caught, and for a second I wondered if his original choice of words failed him. "Somewhere quiet."

Somewhere quiet? I looked over my shoulder towards the fading image of the beach. I would have thought the beach could be considered quiet, but obviously Vaughn had other plans. People watched as I lamely kept to Vaughn's heels, trying to stay at pace with the great big steps he took. Then I noticed that he had come up to a bridge, the one that lead into the forest. What, was he taking me to the church or something?

Wait, why did the Church just pop into my head? It's not like I expected him to drop down on one knee and demand to wed me in the hour. That would be ridiculous.

Any odd ideas that were rushing through my head were extinguished when he walked right passed the diversion in the path that lead to the church, heading further through the forest in a direction I was certain would lead to the base of the islands only mountain. But once again, he took a sharp turn. Confused, I let him lead me. The isolation he was searching for made me decidedly nervous.

Finally, he stopped. I took the chance to try and figure out where we were. It was a small clearing, and judging by the thick layer of foliage that covered the ground told me very few people knew of its existence. The gap in canopy allowed a stream of sunlight to shine through, and I could see an assortment of pollens and other fibres fly through the air.

Leaning my back against I tree, I silently watched Vaughn. He had his head down, his silver eyebrows knitted together.

I cleared my throat, reminding him that he was still in my presence. Suddenly, he looked up, his violet eyes searching me as he approached.

It happened a little too quickly. Like, for a moment, the man somewhere acquired the ability of super speed. Though he hadn't exactly pinned me to the tree, it was on my own accord that I was crushing myself against it, his ability to have me so stunned was new to me. Last time he was this close... it had been a consensual choice.

Vaughn's breath tickled my nose, and I looked up to him. He was simply watching, observing my reaction. Slowly, he brought his right hand up to the tree's bark, just beside me head. I smirked.

"I never expected you to be so...forward." I remarked. It put a scowl on his face, and in response his left hand came to join its counterpart on the opposite side. Okay, now I was pinned.

"You have no idea how confusing you are." He hissed, a deep line burrowing itself into his forehead. I rose a brow, surprised. I didn't expect him to say that.

"Me, confusing?" I scoffed, turning my head to the side. I was looking at his wrist, and though it was not all that interesting to me, the way the tendons tensed and relaxed caught me off guard for a moment. What was he planning, anyway?

I decided to continue, having received no verbal response from him. "What about you? One moment you don't want anything to do with me. And now..." I looked down at the cavity between our bodies, my eyes narrowing. "... You're practically an inch away from sexual assault."

My comment somehow relaxed him, and he backed away with a smirk. He started to chuckle, turning his body to the side. "Are you saying that you'd refuse me?"

I pulled myself off the tree, feeling the loose debris stick to the back of my vest. "No, I don't think I would." I admitted. Apparently, Vaughn had seen through my occasional banter of his good looks and saw that there was truth behind the teasing words.

The level of playfulness dissipated from the man, and once again he had let himself ponder deep within his own thoughts. I didn't know what was going in his head, but the way his expressions changed told me he had trouble with it.

Finally, he let out a tiresome sigh and whipped the hat off his head. It fell to his side, and I watched as his thumb stroked the heavy lip of the Stetson's rim.

"I'd hate to admit it." He started, using his free hand to tussle his own silver locks, "But I haven't been able to get you out of my head since I went off at you. And as far as I'm concerned, it's not a good thing."

I did not know whether I should have been pleased that I had embedded myself so well in his mind, or whether I should have been offended as he saw it as an unpleasant occurrence. I settled with a pout.

My silence must have caught him off guard, and he craned his neck towards me with a disturbed expression. His lips pulled into a frown, and his eyes squeezed shut for a moment. "This is all a game to you, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

It was then I noticed his hand had lost its grip on his hat, and it lay lifeless on the floor. Despite this, Vaughn made no attempt to pick up his greatest possession, he seemed content on watching me. "It all started with that stupid game you proposed. You and your futile attempts to get me to smile." He scowled, as if the word was poison to his lips.

"Before that, we hardly spoke to each other. I liked it that way. I didn't need an idiot girl pursuing me, whether it was in friendship or anything else."

"That's what you get for ticking me off in a poker match." I muttered defiantly, folding my arms across my chest.

He glared at me, silently telling me that now was not the time to interrupt him. If he wanted to vent, then I would let him. It's not like he was the kind of guy who would go on pointless rants on a regular basis, so I suppose that him letting out his emotions for once in his life was a good thing.

"So even when I finally decided to let you in a little, be friends as you wanted, I couldn't handle it. It was too much, you were too close. No one is close to me Chelsea, other than Julia and Mirabelle, and that's because I've had years of reliance placed on that wall of trust built towards them. I hardly know you, and yet... here I am." His hands raised up in defeat, and his let out a humourless laugh towards his own predicament. Frankly, he was scaring me.

I made my way towards him, slow and well thought out. With a shorter distance between us, I reached out towards his hat, taking my sweet time on picking it up and dusting off any pine needles or other plant matter that had stuck to it on its fall.

All the while he stood there, watching me. He made no move to push me back when I reached up and placed the hat back on his head, nor did he have an immediate reply to my coy smile.

"If you grab the mortar I'll get the bricks, and maybe we can start building that wall of trust you were talking about."

"Hmm... I think I like the sound of that." He murmured, his eyes almost distant for a moment. But they cleared, and they were focused on me.

And that's when it happened, I brought myself up as he pulled himself down, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders for leverage into the kiss. It should have felt wrong, I swear it should have. But it didn't. And despite the fact I had only been seeking friendship; the simple gesture had awoken a fire deep inside me. And that fire needed to be fed.

Though it had not been the first time our lips had met, as there had been a few other precarious occasions that involved me forcing myself upon him, I have to say the sensation was vastly different from what I remembered.

It was a rough kiss, and perhaps it called for intimate movement we put forth. My hands reached out to comb through the available strands of his hair, tugging at it ever so slightly. I felt his strong hands grip at my hips, shoving me in closer. Vaughn was dominating me, and the headstrong side of me told me to push back and show him who was boss. But this was ecstasy, and I was in his command.

The touch of his warm lips against mine was intoxicating. Like a drug, his ability to work the situation in his favour left my brain aching for more, and even though we never separated, it was an inevitable I would rather miss out on.

But it did come, and as I listened to the soft panting that we both emitted, I smirked. Perhaps I was silly to think going so deep into the forest was unnecessary. Perhaps Vaughn had planned it all. The dark look in his told me he had. Scheming bastard.

I wanted to move on from our little break, more intent on the physicality we found that anything else. Talking could come later. But Vaughn seemed to have other plans, so I complied to listen to his queries.

"Julia told me about the university thing you have." Vaughn said, bring a hand up to pick at a lock of my hair. Suddenly, his voice seemed void of all emotion. It made me more nervous than I had been when he approached me.

"Yeah..." I frowned, shaking my head slowly. "I don't want to go though."

"I want you to take it."

His words caught me off guard, I hadn't expected that answer. I had been quick to assume that, like the others, he would plead for me to stay, because it was where I belonged. The serious look on his face told me that it was no joke, and I frowned in confusion.

"It's a great opportunity for you. You'd be a professional, and you'd be far better off with a set in stone pay check each month." He commented, reminding me of my dad. Money, was everything always about money?

"I know that. But this is my home. I don't care if I end up living off shrubs I find on the ground, as long as I live here." I stated, pursing my lips at him. There had to be something more behind his opinion, right?

"Call me selfish, but..." He took a step back, and I suddenly felt cold without his body heat near me. "But I'd rather have you in the city than only get to see you twice a week."

I smiled at him, a genuine smile. It wasn't a smirk, and it wasn't full of teasing thoughts or comebacks I could throw at him, just to bring him down. I should have been offended, I should have thought of what Mark would be feeling, but he was far from my mind at the moment. And Vaughn's selfish behaviour, as he put it, was exactly what I needed to hear, and I smiled in response.

And he smiled back.

And I had won.

A/N: Um, not my best chapter, and I feel Vaughn went total OOC on me there. Ah well.

On another note, I had a certain urge to make a self-inset story of myself in harvest moon. With my brother. It was a disturbing thought, to say the least...

But at least it was better than putting myself in Raccoon City. *shudder*