Unforgettable Night

After taking a moment to collect himself, Grant joined Ally and the kids at the dinner table.

For the next few hours, everything that had been consuming Grant; his responsibilities, the impending wars, and the pressure to become as strong as possible seemed to melt away completely.

Since growing up in the era he had, Grant had never truly appreciate the concept of a family dinner or spending one on one time with his loved ones.

But now that things had gone to hell, it brought on an entirely new perspective and made him realize what was truly important in life.

Rather than discuss their Path's, plans for what was to come, or anything else of importance, the four of them simply enjoyed each others company.

When the kids finally retired to their respective rooms, Grant and Ally continued to linger at the dinner table.

Neither of them had spoken for quite awhile, but at the same time, neither of them seemed to care much. Just enjoying each others presence seemed to be more than enough for the two of them.

Eventually the two of them cleaned up the leftovers and the place settings before Ally went over to a makeshift cabinet that had been installed on the walls and pulled out a bottle of bourbon she had stashed away.

Waving the bottle and a pair of glasses in front of Grant, she walked towards the living room.

Grant happily followed after her like a dog following its owner.

Ally seemed to find the whole situation funny too because she couldn't help but laugh when she glanced over her shoulder and saw Grant following her.

"You know, I don't think the big strong leader of humanities last bastion should be chasing around an old lady with such a happy look on his face."

Grant smiled at her teasing, "That's the beauty of being the big strong leader, I can do whatever I want and no one can stop me!"

After sitting in the chairs in the living room, Ally poured a drink for her and Grant before setting the bottle on the table.

"So, how long are you going to wait before you tell me about what happened at the CRMC camp? I can tell you went through a lot in a short amount of time.

You look stressed, and I'm worried about you."

Grant took a few sips of his drink and remained quiet for a few minutes replaying the events of the past few days over and over in his head.

Eventually, Grant began to narrate the series of events that had occurred, starting from the moment that Ethan and him had left the dungeon.

He knew he probably shouldn't share every little detail with Ally and run the risk of burdening her with his own problems, but once he began telling the story, the entire story just flowed out without him realizing it.

He could feel a weight slowly being lifted off his shoulders the more he told.

Of course, Ally had many questions, but since Grant only paused to breathe, she didn't interrupt him.

When Grant was reaching the end of his story however, he suddenly paused for a long period.

Rather than suddenly bombard him with questions, Ally simply waited.

"So, umm.. yeah. Once I took Nicole back up to her room I told her that I would do whatever I could to help her out in getting her arm back and she... um..."

Ally could tell something was bothering Grant and she suddenly became nervous. The way Grant was pausing and holding back, it couldn't be anything good. All she could think was; did he sleep with her?

She knew that she shouldn't be worried about it because in reality, they were nothing to each other, yet. But she couldn't help herself either.

Eventually, Grant managed to finish his statement though, "While I was talking, she suddenly leaned forward and... kissed me.

I'm sorry! I swear I didn't want it to happen! She just suddenly moved and it caught me off guard! When I realized what had happened I left immediately! I'm sorry!"

Since Grant had his head hung low in shame, he couldn't see Ally's face. But after a few seconds of silence, he couldn't help but raise his head to see her reaction.

Unlike what he was expecting though, Ally had her hand covering her mouth and was doing her best to keep herself from laughing.

It was a futile effort though because a few seconds later, she burst out with a fit of laughter that lasted for a few minutes.

Grant however, sat there with a confused look on his face, not knowing how to react to the situation. Which felt odd because he had been feeling guilty about the kiss since it happened.

After Ally finally calmed herself down, "Why do you look like a puppy who just got caught destroying furniture? You look so guilty!

Relax Grant, although I can't say I particularly like the idea of another girl having kissed you, we have never talked about what there is between us so you have nothing to feel guilty about."

Hearing those words, Grant finally relaxed and the last burden on his mind flew away into the dark night.

He simply smiled at Ally before he continued to narrate the rest of his story, reaching the end before long.

With the bourbon nearly gone and the story at a close, neither of them spoke for quite awhile.

Ally knew that Grant wasn't sharing because he wanted to talk about it, he was sharing because he wanted her to know about it. So she refrained from asking any questions at the moment and let Grant finally relax.

After a particularly long bout of silence however, Grant suddenly put his drink down before he stood up and walked around to the other side of the table. Taking Ally's cup and placing it on the table, he then took her hand in his and pulled her to her feet.

As Grant held Ally's hands in his, he looked down into her eyes, "Ally, I know we have both been through more than either of us could have ever imagine, with even more trials and tribulations waiting for us in the future.

That being said, I don't want to waste what little time that we may have together.

I wish I would have met you before The Path's emergence so I could take you out on a real date, but for now, all I can ask is; will you be the one I cry with when I'm sad, the one I laugh with when I'm happy, and the one I complain too when I'm angry?"

Ally placed one of her hands on Grant's cheek and caressed the side of his face affectionately while staring deep into his eyes, before she leaned in and kissed him.

When the two separated from their kiss, "That was the worst proposal ever."

Stunned for a moment, Grant didn't know how to react.

Ally, as if succeeding in her little prank, started laughing hysterically.

When Grant actually thought about what he said, he too began to laugh. He had been so caught up in the moment that the words simply rolled off his tongue without him even thinking about it.

When the two finally calmed down and stopped laughing, Ally once again leaned in and gave Grant another kiss.

"Yes, I want nothing more than to the be there for you Grant. To be the person you come home too when you're finished saving the world."

Rather than say anything more, Grant wrapped his arms around Ally and began to kiss her passionately over and over.

Barely audible from the direction of the rooms came, "Gross. But I'm glad they are together." "Shh Grant has super powerful hearing. Don't talk!"

Rather than ruin the moment though, Grant simply ignored the two onlookers.

The two continued to make out like a couple of teenagers for a few minutes before they finally released each other.

Thinking that was the end of it, Grant began to clean up and was preparing to go to bed when Ally suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Where do you think you're going? You think that was the end of it?"

Although Grant wasn't a virgin, he also wasn't one to read signs and understand the machinations of love, so yes, he had believed that was the end of the night.

Clearly having other plans though, Ally took the glasses from Grant's hands before placing them back onto the table and dragging him off towards her room arm in arm.

When the door slammed shut, Grant knew he was in for an unforgettable night.

The kids however, were in for a miserable one, especially since their was no drywall or insulation in or on the walls, which meant sound dampening wasn't really a thing.

When morning finally came, Grant looked like he had just conquered the world, while the kids looked like they had just lived through the seven circles of hell.

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Discord is in the synopsis for the novel!

Not going to lie to you guys, I had a real shitty day at work yesterday and just didn't have the right mindset to write anything too serious, so I wrote this chapter as a fun interlude to the story. It will be the only chapter for today. I will release three tonight to make up for it. Also, since it does not appear that we will be getting a contract anytime I soon, I set up a P*treon account for anyone who wants extra chapters. (The bonus chapters aren't posted yet but will be by mid next week.) If you know anything about P*treon, then you know how the URL's work. You simply need to use the /Slackr1 to find my page.

I appreciate you guys, and thank you for continuing to support the book with your powerstones and time! Much love.