"Dani!"   Brian yelled as she heard his car door open, her keys fumbling in her cold fingers, trying to find the right one to get inside.  The key to her escape. "Please don't walk away from me without saying anything."

    "What do you want me to say?" She stood facing the door, listening to his footsteps crack on the snow, getting closer and closer.

    "I don't know, just let me know that you heard what I said."

    "I heard you."

    "Then you don't care." He said somberly.  He stood directly behind her, she could almost feel his breath on her neck.

    "Brian, I care." She said turning around to face him, she hadn't expected to see him crying, but he was.  Tears flowed from his eyes only making hers worse.  In all the years she's known him, she'd never seen him cry, at least not like this.

    "So then why are you running again?"

    "Because I don't know what else to do."  Her head sunk in defeat.  He pulled her towards his body, allowing her head to rest against his chest.  He could feel the small sobs that racked her body, sobs she tried to keep at bay.  Brian's hand brushed along the top of her head, coming to rest on her neck, his other arm wrapping protectively over her shoulders.

    "Stay." He whispered, the words being forced around the ball of emotion lodged in his throat.  "All you have to do is stay."

    Dani raised her head to look up at him, his face blurred by the water in her eyes, her lips trembling with a mix of cold and emotion.   His arms stayed around her body, giving her some sense of warmth in the cold winter night, as she stared silently at him.   He didn't try to get her to explain herself, he didn't give up and leave, he just held her tight and let her sort through all of her own emotions and feelings, but at the same time preventing her escape.  Dani looked into his eyes, blue eyes made brighter by the redness of being blood-shot, and finally she stopped crying.

She stopped worrying about the past and the future and focused on the present, tilting her head and kissing him with soft and gentle pressure on the lips, surprising both Brian and herself.    Brian pulled her closer as she readjusted her arms, wrapping them around his neck, returning her kiss.   The warmth of their breath mingled in white wisps as their lips continued to find one others.  A flood of relief washed over her and she relaxed with calmness, a calm she hadn't felt for a very long time.  As his lips pulled from hers and his grasp on her loosened, she opened her eyes, looking up at Brian, and the slight smile that appeared on his face.

She wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't find the words, nothing she could say would come close to what needed to be said.  The apologies she needed to give.  An explanation of the fear that coursed through her veins, constantly worrying about what effect this would have on them.  Her real feelings.  Why she ran.

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." Brian said, as if he had jumped into her mind, hearing her thoughts, feeling her emotions.

"Bri, I..." She struggled to speak, her gaze lost in crinkled corner of his eyes, in the gentle curve of the smile on his face.

"Dani, I know." Brian placed the open palm of his hand on her cheek, his thumb rubbing softly over her lips. "You don't need to say it."  He hugged her tight, kissing her so lightly on the head he didn't know if she had even felt it.

    "It's freezing out here, let's go home." Brian said with a final kiss on her forehead, taking Dani by the hand and leading her to his waiting car.

Lyrics Taken From:
"Let that be enough" Switchfoot
Written by: Jonathan Foreman
© 1999 medowgreen music/Sugar pete songs