Apology?

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

For some reason, Pride and Prejudice wasn't holding Madeleine in its grip the way it normally did. She'd usually lose herself in it, but today, it wasn't working.
She was too upset, too annoyed - and too guilty. She'd lost it, when she shouldn't have. Then Lee had walked out, and she hadn't gone out after him.
What was wrong with her?
Neither of them knew what was going on, and that was what the problem was. They weren't open. Madeleine never talked about how she felt, and she was beginning to sense Lee had a touch of that about him as well.
So now she was miserable.
Was Lee miserable?
And now, she was getting sick of the story about Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. For goodness sake, if the attraction was there - why not admit it?
Then she realised that they were doing exactly the same thing she was doing, and slammed the book shut, frowning.
Bloody stories. Bloody life.
Then, Lee walked down the corridor, and Madeleine jumped up.
She'd apologise. She had to.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee hadn't slept again last night, and for his trouble had earned himself a pounding headache. After a while, he'd given up on the idea of sleep altogether, and gotten out his chessboard and played himself a game. But, as always whenever he played himself, it turned out a stalemate, so he gave up and climbed back into bed. Usually, at this point, Lee would conjure up fantastic fantasies; colourful worlds full of incredible people to serenade him to sleep. But it didn't work.
His imagination failed him.
Every time he shut his eyes, she was there. And so was his guilt. His jealousy. His suspicions.
And his sheer frustration with them both.
It was Sunday morning, around 7.00 am or so whenever he got up properly, getting dressed and going downstairs. Ellie had cheerfully told him over breakfast that he looked terrible and Brian had flicked cornflakes at him to see if he'd move.
Kira, on the other hand, sat perfectly still and quietly, until the other two left. Then she'd turned to him, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.
"Whatever it is, tell me any time, ok?" she smiled, getting up to leave him.
Smiling gratefully at her, he'd watched her retreating back until she was completely out of sight, when Chloe caught his eye. She looked nice today, her long straight hair plaited like Kira's had been the other night. Eyeing it enviously (even in this dull state of exhaustion, he couldn't help but admire her hair) she caught sight of him and flashed him a smile, her olive eyes sparkling.
Madeleine.
Smiling back, he waved, and rose from his seat, deciding on the spot to go and find her.
And speak of the devil, here she was.
"Hey," he said, approaching her along the corridor.
There was a terrible pause, and his heart sunk. Now what?

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"Hey," Lee said, walking towards her.
Madeleine opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't get the words out.
D*mn her stupid pride! Shaun had always told her that she really needed to learn when to admit she was wrong, but she couldn't do it. She hated apologising, even when she knew that an apology was owed. It was just admitting that she'd done wrong. She hated it.
But was she going to wreck this relationship because she didn't want to say she was wrong? Because she was too like a certain character from Pride and Prejudice?
Well, Shaun wouldn't be surprised, but she wasn't going to do it.
Lee was starting to look worried.
Come on, Madeleine, just one word...
"Sorry," she blurted out. "I'm really, really, sorry. I completely overreacted, because I was annoyed at Levi, but I had no right to take it out on you. I'm sorry."
There. That was it. Three times. Relief flooded through her, a golden glow running through her veins.
See, it wasn't that hard, Maddie, was it? Shaun's voice said into her head.
She looked up at Lee, hopefully and pleadingly, biting her lip to give him a chance to respond.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee's immediate reaction was relief. Relief. Pure, blissful relief. How could he have ever underestimated the power of that word?
"I'm sorry too," he sighed, pulling her into a hug. "I was stupid. I know nothing's going on between you and Levi- and you know nothing's going on between me and Chloe."
Relief. Relief. Thank god, thank god, thank god...

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine hugged him tightly, feeling even more relieved because he'd accepted it.
"I know," she muttered into his chest - she was far too short to reach his shoulder. "I didn't mean it. I was just in a bad mood."
And she seriously needed to keep her temper checked. She didn't want to snap at Lee - after all, what had he ever done to her, except be sweet? She just lost it.
Really, what they both needed was to be a bit more open with each other, but Madeleine didn't really want to spoil the moment with this.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Okay, more silence. Was that good or bad?
He sighed, pulling back with her and smiling. There- she was beautiful.
He kissed her softly on her lips, bending down and hugging her close. She'd no idea... no idea how happy he was. How stupid he was.
About the million things he never said or did.
So why was he kissing her like this, and his jealousy was still there?

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Now he was kissing her, and the familiar thrill ran through her.
So, as she kissed him back, why was Chloe's face clouding her mind.
Ignore it. Just ignore it. You're just paranoid!
She pulled away from him reluctantly, smiling. "You know, if we get to make up like this, we should argue more often," she said, jokingly.
Obviously, it was a joke - she hated arguing. So much that she'd even apologise first.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Don't even go there...
He forced a smile. "Haha! Enjoying it, are you?"
It was too public though. People were walking past and having a good gawp. God this felt awkward. Suddenly, an unbidden image of Chloe and Levi came into his mind, and the looks on their faces if they saw...

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"Hmm," she murmured, glancing around the corridor. She hadn't realised that people were there, and she suddenly wished that Chloe was there to see.
Immediately chastising herself for this, she smiled up at Lee. "Maybe somewhere else, though."
She didn't mind kissing him in the corridor, but she knew he wasn't exactly comfortable with, ahem, 'public displays of affection'. It was one of those things that irritated her, and was something that Levi pointed out occasionally. Lee only ever held her hand or kissed her in private - while he did call her his girlfriend, he wasn't big on the idea of being like... well, like Lydia and Kyle.
... Could that be pride, or was she reading into this similarity thing too much?
All she knew was that it was really starting to slightly freak her out...
... and Madeleine wasn't easily freaked out.
"Another time?" she asked, squeezing his hand, and smiling flirtly up at him, before letting go, inwardly sighing as she lost his touch.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

She smiled at him and let go of his hand, and Lee inwardly cursed himself. With loss of touch came loss of speech. Neither seemed to have anything else to say.
Bad.
"So..." he said, putting his hands in his pockets as he sat down on a bench, catching sight suddenly of the book in her hand, "Pride and Predjudice?"
Urgh just about summed that up.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"Pride and Prejudice," Madeleine confirmed. "I've read it a million times before, but still..."
Now everything was silent again.
Silences were not good. She'd bet that Chloe was never stuck for words with Lee.
"So... did you sign up for the camping trip?" she asked, stabbing desperately at a conversation starter.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Course," smiled Lee. "Should be interesting... the power show and.. so on and such forth..."
Lee rarely used his powers, but he couldn't help but be a little proud whenever he got to show them off. If he had a crowd-pleaser, it had to be the whole 'wing' thing. After all, nobody really expected them to appear...
More silence. Fun.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"I haven't seen anybody actually use their powers," she smiled. "It should be fun."
She loved shapeshifting in front of people - it got some great reactions, especially if she transformed into a phoenix, which was a specialty of hers.
It was also something that Levi couldn't do.
Ugh, not this silence again. If there was one thing that really irritated/worried her, it was awkward silences.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Definitely," he laughed. "You've seen me in Battle Training and stuff but... you haven't seen one thing..."
She'd be shocked, to say the least.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

"And you haven't seen one of mine," Madeleine said, perking up at the start of a decent conversation. "What haven't I seen?"