Stephenie Meyer - The Chemist

The strange thing, then, was how it didn’t feel at all inevitable. Somehow, it was the biggest surprise of her life. It was all a jumble of opposites tumbling together in a way that left her helpless to analyze any of them. Comfortable, familiar… but also electric and new. Gentle at the same time it was extreme, both soothing and overwhelming. It was like every nerve ending in her body was lit up with dozens of conflicting stimuli simultaneously.

All she was really sure of was the Danielness of him, that core of something pure, something better than anything she’d known before. He belonged to a more excellent world than the one where she resided, and while they were part of each other, she felt like she was allowed to be there with him.

She knew her past experience with relationships was quite limited by most people’s standards, so she didn’t have much to compare this to. She’d always thought of sex as a single event that had a defined end, an effort at physical gratification that sometimes satisfied and sometimes did not.

This experience didn’t fit into the same category on any level. It was less an event and more an ongoing exploration of each other, a satisfaction of curiosity, a fascination over each little detail discovered. It wasn’t about gratification, but there was no need that wasn’t met, whether it was physical or something less definable.

She searched for the right word as they lay kissing quietly, patiently now, with the light turning red around the edges of the curtain. She wasn’t sure what to label this emotion that filled her so entirely that she thought it might stretch her skin. It was a little like that bubbly feeling that had left her smiling at the thought of him but multiplied by thousands, millions, and then fired in a crucible until every impurity, every lesser sensation, was burned out, leaving only this behind. She didn’t have a name for it. The closest she could think of was joy.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “I love you.”

Maybe that was the word. She’d just never thought its definition could be so… huge.

“Daniel,” she murmured.

“You don’t have to say anything back. I just needed to say that out loud. I might have exploded had I tried to keep it in. I will probably have to say it again soon. You are forewarned.” He laughed.

She smiled. “I never want to go back to having nothing to lose. I’m glad I have you as my liability. I’m grateful. I’d have you as anything.”

She laid her head against his chest and listened to his breath moving in and out. For so long now, breathing had been her priority. If she could have spoken to the woman she was even just a month ago, she knew that woman would have been terrified of expanding that priority to include another set of lungs. That woman would have run away from needing anything more than her own life. But what she would have missed! Alex couldn’t even remember what she’d been holding on to back then. This was the kind of life worth fighting to keep.

“I think I was probably twelve, maybe thirteen, when I sort of gave up on living an extraordinary life,” he mused thoughtfully, running his fingers in aimless patterns through her hair. “That’s probably about the age that everyone starts to grow up and leave fantasy behind. You realize you’re never going to discover that you’re actually an alien, adopted by those prosaic human parents, with amazing superpowers that will save the world.” He chuckled. “I mean, you know that much earlier, but you can’t quite let go, not for years. And then the world beats you down a little, and some of the color goes out of life, and you settle for reality… I think I did a decent job of it. I found plenty of happiness in the drab, everyday world. But I want you to know – this time with you has been extraordinary. There has been terror, yes, but along with it, there’s been a kind of joy I didn’t know existed. And it’s because you are extraordinary. I’m so glad you found me. My life was destined to change drastically, it seems, in one way or another. I’m just so grateful that it got to be with you.”

Her throat was tight, and she marveled as she blinked furiously to keep the moisture in her eyes from pooling. She’d cried in grief, in pain, in loneliness, and even in fear, but this was the first time in her life she’d had tears of joy in her eyes. It seemed a strange response, something she’d never truly taken at face value when she’d read about it. This was the first time she’d understood that joy could be even more severe than pain.

She would happily have never left the bed, but eventually they had to eat. Daniel didn’t complain, but she could tell he would be pleased when he had access to real food again. It was strange, as they sat at the little table in the alcove eating jerky, peanuts, and chocolate chip cookies, laughing and scratching the dogs’ ears – of course they’d caved quickly and brought Einstein and Lola inside; if you were going to break and enter, you might as well do it in style – to think that they didn’t have to get back into the Batmobile and drive tensely through the night again. They had a dozen empty hours ahead of them, open to fill in any way they wanted. She had a fairly good idea of what they would probably choose to do, but the point was the freedom. It felt too good to be true.

So, naturally, Kevin had to call.

“Hey, Danny, you guys good?” she heard him say. His voice was, as always, penetrating.

“I’m excellent,” Daniel said. Alex shook her head at him. No need to elaborate.

“Uh, great. You got to the McKinleys’, I presume.”

“Yeah. The place hasn’t changed.”

“Good. That means it still belongs to them. Did you get enough rest?”

“Er, yes. Thanks for inquiring.”

Alex sighed, knowing Kevin would never ask just to be polite. Too good to be true, indeed. She held out her hand at the same time that she heard Kevin say, “Let me talk to Oleander.”

Daniel looked confused, clearly not following, but he handed her the phone.

“Let me guess,” Alex said. “You need us to join you as soon as possible.”

“Yes.”

The corners of Daniel’s lips turned down.

“What did Deavers do?” Alex asked.

“Nothing… and I don’t like it. Because of course he’s doing something, but he’s being more cautious now. He’s not letting me see anything, because he guesses that I’m watching. He must be making calls from other people’s offices so I can’t hear. What did the e-mail say?”

She recited it to him word perfect; she’d known he would want the details, so she’d memorized it.

“Not bad, Ollie, not bad. Maybe a little smart for me, but that’s okay.”

“So what are you thinking?”

“I want to strike within the week, which means you need to get here and get set to move at the same time.”

She sighed heavily. “Agreed.”

“Is the Suburban still there?”

“Um, I haven’t checked yet.”

“Why not?” he demanded.

“I slept in.”

“You need to toughen up, sweetheart. The beauty sleep can wait for a few weeks.”

“I’d like to be in top form for this.”

“Yeah, yeah. When can you move?”

“Where are we going exactly?”

“I’ve got a place for us to crash. Do you have something to write with?”

He gave her an address. It was in a part of DC she wasn’t familiar with. She thought the area he was sending them to was in a rather posh part of town, but that didn’t fit with her idea of a bolt-hole. She must be picturing the wrong neighborhood. She’d been out of the city for a while.

“Okay, let me get our stuff together. We’ll leave as soon as we can… if we have another car option available.”