Disclaimer: If I had anything to do with WaT, this story would never be written because it would never be needed.

Summary: She thought she got her wish once.

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Hero Boxes

She had always been waiting for a hero. Someone who would sweep into her life, make sense of her messed up family, and take her away someplace where they would live happily ever after.

She thought she got her wish once. She'd been young and he'd been crazy and she'd been drawn right in. It was hot, that there was no denying and when it was over, she didn't want to ever feel that kind of fire again.

She had not found her hero, so she'd packed up her world in fifteen cardboard boxes and moved away from her shattered dreams. She landed in New York, as far away from where she'd started as she thought she could cope with going.

She thought she got her wish once. She'd been overwrought and he'd been emotionally available and she'd been drawn right in. It wasn't hot, that there was no denying, and when it was over, it didn't feel over because she was still smouldering at the same temperature. His wife didn't want a hero; she wanted a husband. Someone with a steady, stable job who worked regular hours and would support her career. She would have taken him exactly as he was, and he knew it. So he smouldered too.

She had not found her hero, so she'd dried her tears and walked into his office and helped him pack away the mnemonics of his heroness into cardboard boxes so that he could move away from the lives they'd fixed and her shattered dreams. She would stay, because it wasn't his turn anymore, but it was further away than she thought she could cope with going.

He'd offered her her wish once. She'd been heartbroken and he'd been surprised, and she'd been drawn right in. There was no fire, no simmering heat, that there was no denying, and she was afraid that when it was over, she would be frozen. But there had been an understanding between them, and he would take her exactly as she was. He was safe. He was constant. And he was here.

Her hero had arrived. He was unexpectedly off-schedule, and she wasn't sure he could make her world stop spinning, but she knew they would never have cardboard boxes.

She didn't make wishes any more.