Helloooo! Happy New Year everyone!

So, it's like the description says… this idea just strode into my head. If it's been done before (I haven't read it, but then again I haven't read every B/B fic in the world) I apologise. I also apologise for the romanticism. I was feeling puckish.

What? What! So Caroline is the only one who can use that excuse?

THEY WOULD MEET AGAIN – by GoldenNinde

The first thing he noticed was the flash of sunlit crimson hair. She was laughing, for a reason he found himself desperate to know. When they met again, fifteen years later, he would marvel at the change, the joy turned to temperance.

The passion she carried with her always, that ability to feel so keenly would still be there all that time later… but he would realise it would be some time before the uninhibited laughter came back. He would vow to himself to make her laugh just like she'd laughed as a teenager.

He'd remember her after fifteen years.

She wouldn't recognise him.

The fifteen year old girl stood with a group of friends. She hadn't been talking, and she clearly wasn't the centre of attention. But there was something about her… she stood out, and not just because she was much taller than the other girls. There was the bright hair, the astonishing eyes, and despite her long limbs (to which she couldn't be used to yet) there was a grace in her movements. This grace would only grow in time.

The beauty wasn't quite there yet; she was too thin, her clothes weren't fashionable and she wore no make up, but there was certainly something about her face. The strong jaw, the elegant eyebrows… yes, there was certainly something.

He'd been walking home, dreading what he'd find there, but now he simply stood in the middle of the pavement, staring at the other side of the road. She was much younger than him, she couldn't be older than fifteen or sixteen.

And then one of her friends whispered something in her ear. The girl seemed to shrink momentarily, perhaps from the attention. The laughter was gone, and with surprise he realised just how shy and serious she looked now. But as the other girl's words registered… a transformation occurred. She took a breath and seemed to steel herself to do something, to draw courage.

And then she turned to look straight at him, hands on hips. Her chip went up, the look on her eyes was no longer muted, she looked defiant and strong.

"What?" she shouted. All her friends stopped talking now and stared at her. They clearly hadn't expected this, any more than he had. He wondered how often she let them see this side of her.

"Are you talking to me?" he couldn't help but let humour slip in his tone.

"Yeah. Please stop looking at me."

There was a frenzy of giggles at this, but he didn't hear them. Her voice was rich and deep, like velvet soaked and dripping in honey.

"I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"No I wasn't." he felt like a five year old, even though he was four times that age.

"I have eye witnesses. Proof."

"Well I'm happy for you, really, but-"

He stopped talking because she began crossing the road.

"What are you doing?"

She walked up to him and now that she was closer, he saw the fear in her eyes. She was ignoring it admirably, however.

"You were."

Yes, she should fear him. But not just because he was older, taller, and seemed unable to shed that menacing air about him. She should be afraid because he was bad. Tainted. Dangerous.

"Listen, kid-" he began.

"Kid? Are you serious?"

He chuckled.

"Yeah. Kid."

"Look, objectively I'd say I'm not the best looking girl in my group, so there's obviously another reason for you to be staring. And I'd like to know it."

"Say the magic word." She didn't think she was pretty? Suddenly she looked more beautiful.

"Please, I'd like to know it."

He stared down at her and felt something stir inside of him. He'd been walking home hating each step which took him closer there, and now he felt slightly giddy and good humoured.

"You-"

"Marco!"

She spun around the instant the word reached her ears, her face glowing with something… pride?

"Polo!" she shouted at a boy parking a motorcycle. Boyfriend? He looked older than her. She turned away from the other boy to face him once more, and now she looked more comfortable. The fear was gone.
Suddenly he felt annoyed.

"Hey, is everything okay, Tempe?" the other boy called, seeing her standing in front of him.

"Everything's fine, Russ." She replied. "I can take care of myself."

"What? Is he bothering you?" the boy began walking towards them, looking angry.

"Hey, don't go protective elder-brother on me now, okay?"

The annoyance faded, replaced by an irrational happiness.

"I'm leaving, okay? Relax, kid." He couldn't hide a wide grin as he said it, knowing it would annoy her.

"Don't call me kid."

Yep, he'd been right.

"And you didn't answer my question." She added.

He eyed her brother, who was almost there, and decided that he was never going to see her again. So, what the hell, right?

"You are the best looking girl." The words came out without warning, and as he said them he realised they were true.

"What?"

"That's the reason I was looking at you."

The look on her face then would burn in the back of his eyelids whenever he closed them during the next few years. It was simply… incredible.

Her eyes seemed to melt into liquid sapphires, the mouth curved upwards and her cheeks reddened, and she seemed torn between surprise, pleasure, pride and something too complicated to define.

She looked down, then back up at him with her mouth slightly open as if to ask something else, then decided not to and ran to her brother, waving goodbye to her stunned friends on the other side of the road.

He grinned again, and walked away.

For the next fifteen years, until they were introduced properly (and he would almost go into shock when he recognised her), he'd remember her face, her innocence and also her bravery.

He'd momentarily forget, though, during his worst times. Gambling and drinking, especially the former. The outlines of her face would blur as the machines clicked and the coins rained down.

She would seem to fade during long stake outs, too, and the moment his finger squeezed that trigger the face would completely disappear.

But then, slowly…

Her smile would come back.