The Soldier and The Thief

Never, ever again would Audrey ride through an abandoned town at night again like she was at the moment. She shuddered as a cold wind blew through the ghost town, chilling her to the bone. She was already soaked due to rain and the wind was just making it worse. Damned weather. Damned horse. Damned everything! She growled mentally.

Once she was out of the town and bad weather she urged the horse on faster until they reached the next town. Audrey put the horse in the stable and counted up the little money she had, enough to buy some food and a blanket. She hurried over to the nearest inn, bought everything she needed, and when nobody was looking, stole a beautiful black and white horse, hurrying out of town.

After about riding for an hour Audrey jumped off the horse, which, surprisingly, stayed at her side, and began to walk. Riding got somewhat annoying to her after a while. All the running really made her want to beat the hell out of the horse. "Ya, honey, I do." She suddenly heard someone whisper, making her stop in her tracks. It had sounded like Tyrel!

"Now, you need to get some sleep, Lilly." He said.

"Ok." She said falling back to sleep.

"Tyrel?" A timid voice called. HE sat up and Lilly climbed onto his back.

"Whose out there?" He called.

"It's me." Audrey stepped into the light of the fire.

"What are you doing here, don't you have the kids to take care of?" He managed to say evven though his heart was pounding, she looked amazing in the fire light.

*Sorry, didn't realize that you posted*

Audrey laughed painfully and nodded, her hair falling across her face. "That's just it. They... they wanted me to come get you and Lilly. They miss you guys." She looked directly at Tyrel, looking him in the eyes with a slight blush. "I miss you guys," she admitted, mainly to Tyrel.

"Mama!" Lilian clambered off of Tyrel's back and ran over to Audrey, glomping her leg. Audrey laughed lightly and kneeled to the ground, wrapping her arms around the small girl as tears trailed their way down her face.

Tyrel looked at her then Lilly. "What happened to Channing?" He asked.

"he's a stuck up jerk!" She hissed. Lilly ran back over to him and sat on his lap.

"You sure didn't seem to think that when you kissed him." He replied. "Lilly go take care of Areo."

"Ok." The girl ran over to her horse.

"Listen, Audrey. I have feeling for you. Ok? I'm not going back there to have my heart torn out once again." He said crossing his arms.

**Ouch, that's gotta hurt lol**

Audrey felt like she'd been kicked in the face. Hard. She stood up suddenly, fists clenched at her side. "First and foremost, I have no idea that you had feelings for me and secondly, I didn't kiss him!" She shouted angrily.

"Oh really so locking lips isn't kissing is it?" She growled as he crossed his arms.

"He kissed me, okay?! He forced it himself onto me! I had no intention of kissing him, as a matter of fact I'd kiss you over any guy any day!" She spat, her face falling at what she said. She cleared her throat, pushing her regret of suddenly blabbing out her feeling away, and crossed her arms over her chest, hoping the firelight made her look more angrier than she really was.

"That I remeber you did kiss me before. But that was just to torment me." He replied. She looked so cute standing in front of the fire. "You know what, I'm tired of this. I don't understand you."

"Oh, and I understand you? I thought you hated me." She repleid. He couldn't keep from it anymore. He pulled her close and kissed her.

Audrey almost melted at the feeling of kissing him again. It was coming back, ten times stronger than even. Audrey wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his, smiling into the kiss as she felt his arms snake around her waist. A giggle suddenly burst into Audrey and Tyrel's act of small intamacy, pulling them back to the realization that a three year old had been watching the whole thing.

"Yay! Mama and Papa made up!" Lily giggled and clapped her hands excitely, causing Audrey to laugh and blush at the same time.

Tyrel smiled and picked Lilly up. Then looked at Audrey. "Have we?" He asked.

"I don't see why not." She simled. He wrapped his arm around her waist again as Lilly climbed off and walked ot her horse again. He puleld her close again and kissed her.

"I think we can make up." He smield.

After a while of talking and Audrey telling Lily a story so she could go to sleep, Audrey sat down next to Tyrel, who was prodding the fire with a stick. "I've been thinking a lot these passed four weeks Ty," she smiled lightly up at him, laying her head on his shoulder. She blushed as she felt him wrap his arm around her waist.

"About what?"

"Well, when I wasn't being paranoid and coming up with thoughts of what might've happened to you and Lily I was thinking about... a real house, you know. A big one, but not to big. Just big enough to seperate the girls and boys for a bit of privacy and to give you and I our own privacy. Stealing, as fun as it is, gets old after a while and the kids need something to occupy their minds other than the worry of being killed or starving. We all share a bond, and I can tell that they've all grown attached to you. Almost as if it was natural. The bad thing though, as much as I want to do something for them all, I don't have the money, and I'm not about to go searching for my father, or grandmother for that matter. She's a maniac." She took a breath. "I was also... thinking about you. A lot. The kids were also complaining about you not being there and I couldn't deal with it and... and... I kept going over and over and over a question that I wanted to ask you," She burried her face in her hands in an attempt to gather her thoughts. "What I want to ask you is... is..." She took a deep breath and quickly said, "Do you want to be all the kids' dad for the rest of their life?" She blushed. After all, the boys needed a father figure to look up to and guys were going to have to be chased away with a stick one all the girls got older.

"Under two conditions." He replied.

"What?" SHe asked eyeing him.

"One, you marry me." He smiled. "Two, you let me get us a place to stay, no arguing or anyything else."

Marry? He wanted to marry her? Audrey smiled up at him, tears falling down her cheeks, and nodded quickly. She sat in his lap and hugged him tightly, letting a few sobs go into his neck. She loved him... and he felt the same way! The best part, though, was the fact that her kids were actually going to live normally! Audrey pulled away from his neck, that she had soaked with tears, and kissed him passionately. "I-I love you," she admitted with a smile, "I love you so, so, so much."

"I love you too." He said softly kissing he and holding her close. "More then life."

"Can we go home?" Lillian yawned.

"Of course, honey, soon." He smiled at her. She laid down and fell asleep quickly.

Audrey smiled lightly at Lillian's small, sleeping form and turned back to Tyrel, kissing him lightly. "I think we should head back tonight, unless you don't want to. I'm kinda worried about the kids. I've never left them alone overnight before and had to ride through my worry last night."

"Ride?"

"Haha, yeah, I kinda got a horse." At the word Audrey's black and white horse walked into the clearing, neighing proudly, yet quietly. Audrey laughed and turned back to Tyrel. "So, should we head out tonight or not?"

"Alright, put out the fire." He quickly packed things up on the spare hores then mounted up himself holding Lilly in his arms. "let's go."

They rode all night and then finally got to the tree house.

Audrey laughed lightly once they got there, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She knocked on the make-shift door with a smaller, rectangular opening, which opened to reveal a set of bright blue eyes. "Hey! Everyone! Mama's home!" The eyes looked out once again. "And she found Papa and Lil!" The door was suddenly swung open as all the kids ran out, knocking Audrey to the ground with hugs, some of the kids running over to Tyrel and Lillian, pulling them inside excitedly so they could talk for hours.

And talk for hours they did. Some of them scolded Tyrel for leaving and others asked him how his travels went. A few even asked it he and I had made up yet. Audrey laughed lightly as she tucked Lillian into bed before walking back out to the main room. She grabbed Tyrel's hand and pulled him into her room, shutting the door behind them. "You're sleeping in here, okay?" She laughed, trying to sound a bit demanding.

"Yes ma'am," Tyrel chuckled, which of course made Audrey laugh. She kissed him all of a sudden, wrapping her arms around his neck. Thanks to her horrid balance she fell backwards onto her bed, pulling Tyrel with her. Audrey simply laughed and covered her face, trying to quiet the loud outburts.