The cold air smacked my hair into my face. Aggravated, I pushed it back behind my ears with a scowl on my face. Why was it so easy to lose hair ties?

It was the first days of November as well as the first days that finally felt like winter. There was a snow storm the night before, layering all of the upper east coast in a thick layer of white dust. Winter had come too soon, at least in my book since I was never fond of it; luckily though the meteorologists didn't see another snow storm coming in anytime soon. But then again they couldn't predict this storm so what makes them think they can predict the next one?

Leo's family was herding themselves into a limo, heading for the airport which would take them to Canada where Alexandria lived. It had been exactly one week since the untimely death of their loved one and unfortunately four days since Leo and I had last heard from Adrik.

He phoned Leo late in the night, reminding him that he wanted his answer. If it weren't for me though Leo probably would have had to bury another one of his family members because he didn't have an answer yet. We had no clue as to what the plan was, we were still busy dealing with Xander's death and staying in bed as much as we possibly could. I persuaded Adrik into giving Leo more time, telling him that he needed some time to collect himself after his dad's sudden death.

I played the guilt train, I'll admit it, but I won't regret it. It got Leo a couple more days to come up with a plan.

"Call me when you get there," Leo murmured to his sister. They weren't the best of friends right now but they were definitely making progress in their relationship.

Alexandria smiled up at her younger brother. "I will. You're still coming up for Thanksgiving right?"

Leo smiled back and nodded his head. It was odd to see them so fond of each other when just last year I remember Leo skipping out on an important business trip with his dad because Alexandria would be going as well. I didn't complain because I was the one who had to fill in for Leo, therefore earning a free trip to London.

Alexandria turned to me, her face still bright with young age even though she wasn't. "You too Ivory?"

I leaned into Leo who wrapped an arm around my waist. "I wouldn't miss it." She beamed at us both before saying her goodbyes and stooping down into the car.

Where Alexandria once was Aria had taken her place. Her hair was gray now and there were winkles covering her body, showing how old she really was. I swear that since Xander had died she had grown a lot more winkles. But still she had a smile on her face as she looked up at her son.

"You better call me every day," she said sternly.

Leo rolled his eyes but chuckled softly. "I will mom. I promise."

"Good," she huffed, "because if you don't I'll just have to come back and stay with you two. Then you won't be able to do any more hanky panky with your Momma in the house."

"Mom," Leo groaned, his face growing red quickly.

"Oh I'm so glad I can embarrass you now." She clapped her hands excitedly. "Ivory dear, have you ever seen photos of him when he was ten?"

"No," Leo snapped, "she hasn't and she never will."

I shared Aria's smile, basking in the good mood that I had whenever she was around. "Is it embarrassing?"

"It's humiliating," Leo grumbled.

"Leo was such a. . . chubby child. I don't know where he got it from but it only lasted for about a year before he started boxing."

"I need to see them."

"No you don't," Leo hissed, growing frustrated.

"I'll send you some Ivory. I believe Alexandria has a whole album dedicated to that year," she teased, her eyes twinkling as she looked at Leo.

"Of course she does," he muttered.

"Well," Aria clapped her gloved hands together, "we better get going before we all freeze to death. It was a pleasure seeing you again Ivory. I'm so glad that my son was smart enough to catch you."

I smiled up at Leo, admiring his dimple when he smirked down at me. "I am too." I leaned up to kiss his lips softly, adoring the taste of lemon on his lips.

I gave Mrs. Stavros a hug goodbye, wishing her a safe trip before retreating back into the house. I figured Leo would want some time alone to say goodbye to his mom.

Ten minutes later Leo found me nestled on the couch in front of the television with a big blanket wrapped around me.

"What are you thinking about watching this time," he teased, slipping under the blanket with me.

"Iron Man two."

Leo chuckled softly, throwing an arm around my shoulder and pulling me to his side. "I could have guessed that."

I playfully smacked him on the chest as the movie began to play. "You can't say no to Tony Stark's sass or the Black Widow's kick ass moves."

We watched the movie in comfortable silence. Neither of us said a word the entire time and I was about to fall asleep when Leo suddenly shot up, startling me awake.

"Leo, what's wrong?"

He kept his eyes trained on the screen where the Black Widow was currently destroying every man in the hallway that came to her in awesome swift moves. "I have an idea," Leo murmured.

Cautiously I watched him watch the movie, having no idea what he was talking about. "I'm not going to have a threesome with a Scarlett Johansson lookalike. Nu uh."

Leo rolled his eyes annoyed before turning back to look at me. "That wasn't my idea."

"I'm not going to dress up as her either for some weird fantasy of yours."

"That's not it either!"

"Then what is this idea you have in your head? My assumptions are only going to grow worse and worse. Right now I'm imagining you in an Iron Man costume fucking a red head while I pretend to be Piper on the side. I will kill you by the way if that's your idea."

"I'm not going to cheat on you Ivory, ever," he said sternly. "And how am I supposed to have sex with someone in that costume anyways? I think that's impossible, unless there's a hole for my dick to go through."

"I think we're getting off track here."

"You're right." He stood up, clasping his hands together. "I know how we're going to bring the Russian mafia down."

I raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "Oh really? And how does the Black Widow have anything to do with that?"

"She infiltrated Tony Starks business, pretending to be his assistant!"

"So?"

Leo kneeled down on the couch beside me, his eyes bright with giddiness. "I'm going to infiltrate the mafia, pretending to be fighting for them."

It took a few minutes before I could wrap my head around it. "I see many flaws in that. Next idea."

Leo shook his head. "We don't have much time Ivory. Adrik wants his answer what, tomorrow? And we'll figure out the flaws."

I shot up from the couch, running my hand through my hair nervously. "How is this going to help anything again?"

Leo stood up with me, catching my wrist before I could walk away from him and begin to pace a hole into the ground. "I'll get their secrets. I'll learn their deepest weaknesses then when I have enough I'll go to the FBI! They can take it from there."

"Leo, Leo, Leo," I held my head in my hands to contain the massive migraine I was getting. "They'll figure you out! Working as a spy is too dangerous!"

"They won't figure it out Ivory."

"Fine, I'll believe that impossible idea! But when you go to the FBI and the mafia is suddenly being hunted down they'll come after you! I don't know how big their organization is Leo! It could be just the ones in the US or overseas, there could be hundreds of them! And they can't all be thrown into jail, some will get by and will make it their goal to kill you!"

"Darling calm down," he soothed, caging my head in with his soft large hands. "I'm sure the FBI will protect me and I have the money to buy a whole damn army if I want. They won't get to me."

"But Leo-"

He stopped me by planting his lips on mine, pulling me into a feverish kiss, ones that he usually left for the bedroom. He pulled away some time after, his lips red and swollen from my own.

"I need to do this Ivory."

I shook my head vigorously. "No, I won't let you!"

"Darling," he began.

I stepped away from his hold, watching as hurt washed over his features. "I'm sorry but I won't stick around to see your dead body. I've already had to see my brothers, I can't see yours."

His shoulders slumped in defeat. "They killed my father."

"And they killed my brother," I yelled, tears stinging at the back of my lids. "But tearing them down won't bring him back! It will just make them angry!"

Leo plopped down onto the couch, lowering his head into his hands. I could see that his jaw was clenched tight.

I sighed, throwing my hands down against my thighs. "I need a nap. By the time I wake up hopefully you would have come up with a better plan that doesn't get you killed in the end."

I stomped out of the room, letting the tears hit my cheeks. When I reached the empty room I used to stay in I curled up and let myself cry. If Leo wanted to act brave and get himself killed then so be it, but I wouldn't wait around to see it happen.

Hopefully he would change his mind though.

All I knew was that Leo was stuck between a rock and a hard place with no way out. Either way someone was going to get hurt whether Leo decided to fight for Adrik or hand over part of his company and risk losing it all.

...

I awoke sometime later when the sun was low on the horizon. I didn't know what woke me up until I felt something soft and wet on my stomach.

"Leo," I murmured, still half asleep. "What are you doing down there?"

He popped his head out from under the blankets that was covering us both. I didn't get a good look of his face before he attached his lips to mine. I melted into his kiss, running my hands in his hair and tugging roughly on the dark blonde strands. He moved his lips to my neck, kissing, nipping, licking all he could.

"Leo," I moaned, arching my back into him. I ran my hands down his back, realizing that he wasn't wearing a shirt. I indulged myself in running my nails over the hard ridges of the muscles in his back, loving every curve and edge.

Leo softly and slowly ran one of his hands over my shoulders, over one of my breasts, my stomach, and down to my sweat pants. I quivered underneath him when he dipped his hand inside.

We stayed in bed until late at night. Leo didn't seem to want me to leave his side and whenever I tried he would pull me back underneath him and repeat the process over and over again until I was too tired to move.

I should have noticed something was wrong in his behavior, especially when he refused to let me look into his eyes. But obviously I was a little preoccupied to notice the way he would always either have his head nestled in my neck, between my legs, or would have his eyes clenched tight.

It wasn't until I was fading into sleep when I felt Leo's body behind mine shake that the alarm inside of my started ringing.

I rolled over to my side, facing Leo and shocked to see him crying.

I've seen the worst of his cries when we were in the hospital hallway but the sight of him in bed with tears leaking from his eyes as his body shook with tremors affected me in a whole different way.

"Leo," I asked scared, lying a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

He moved away from my touch, sitting up and throwing his legs over the opposite side of the bed. He wiped a hand across his cheeks before leaning down and grabbing his pants off the floor.

"Talk to me," I pleaded, crawling up behind him. As he yanked his pants on I ran my hands over his shoulders, massaging them a bit. "Is it your dad?"

Leo stood up abruptly, rushing over to the other end of the room where he had thrown my shirt and sweatpants. "Here," he choked, "put these on." He threw them back at me blindly, and they landed in a lump on my lap.

"Not until you talk to me."

With his back turned to me he said, "I can't talk to you when you're naked. Put them on."

Disgruntled I yanked my clothes on and then marched over to Leo, grabbing his bicep and twisting him around to face me. "What the hell is going on with you? You're scaring me."

Leo ran a shaky hand down his face, revealing two big red eyes and wet cheeks. He looked like hell.

"You're fired."

I stared up at him in question for a while before I let out a loud laugh. "You actually had me worried there. Now why don't I make you some dinner? Spaghetti sound good to you?"

"Ivory I'm being serious."

"Mmmhm," I laughed, "you would fire your girlfriend for no reason. Yeah alright Leo."

"God Ivory," he yelled, throwing his hands up. "This is hard as it is! Why are you making it so much harder!"

Shocked, I took a step back. "Wait, you're serious? You're really firing me?"

Leo bit his lip before nodding his head, his eyes pointed to the carpet below him.

"Why," I seethed. "What fucking reason do you have?"

Leo didn't respond for a bit, worrying me even more. Eventually he did but his words were much worse than any silence he could give me.

"I'm breaking up with you."

"That's not a reason," I pointed out, feeling my throat close up on accord. I refused to believe that he was telling the truth but from the remorseful look on his face I knew he was.

"Fine," he sighed. "I called and made a deal with Adrik. I'm going forward with the plan." With a clenched jaw he said, "Is that reason enough for you?"

My lip wobbled, my legs shook, and I could feel my heart bursting at the seams and not in the good way.

"No," I yelled but my voice caught and it came out in a pathetic whimper. "You can't do that Leo!"

"I already have. You can't stop it now. The only thing you can do is get far away from here as possible." He walked around me to his dresser, pulling out a shirt. "I'll have my jet take you anywhere you want. L.A., London, Sydney, Tokyo, anywhere that's far away from here."

"Why are you sending me away," I screamed, hitting his back with my feeble fists. "Do you think you're protecting me? You're not!"

"Yes I am," he screamed, turning on me. "I'd rather you hate me forever than have you be taken from me by force!"

"Nobody would take me from you!"

"Adrik will," he yelled, clenching his fists at his side. "He's still in love with you Ivory, he told me in great fucking detail! And if he figures out that we've been together than he'll kill us both!"

Suddenly it became clear to me. "You told him that I ran didn't you?"

Leo clenched his hair tight in a fist, nearly pulling it out. "I told him that you didn't want anything to do with him anymore, even through association with your boss. It the first excuse that came to mind and luckily it didn't sound like he was so keen on running after you."

"I-I'm so confused," I whimpered, holding a hand to my head. I stumbled back to the bed, landing with a thump on the rumpled up blankets.

Leo stayed where he was, leaning back on the dresser and gripping the edges with tight fists. "I called Adrik back and told him that I would fight for him until he got enough money to heal his dad. That's a couple years at least, not too much. Then he asked about you, telling me how much he really loves you, how much he wants you back and all this shit. I told him the first thing that came to mind which was you ran and I had no idea where you went."

"You're breaking up with me because you couldn't come up with a better response to my ex-fiance?"

Leo huffed, clenching his eyes tight. "You said you weren't going to stick around anyways. I don't see the big deal."

"The big deal," I cried, "you didn't just say that!"

Leo noticeably gulped. "There's nothing I can change Ivory. It's better if you just leave."

"You know what," I exclaimed, standing to my feet and walking over to stand in front of him. "Fine, I'll leave. I'll let you ruin this thing between us before it even got started. I'll let myself be alone again. I'll let you fire me, tell my ex fiancé whatever the hell you want. But I will not be pulled down with you. I'll stay in New York and if Adrik finds me then so fucking be it, I'll deal with him. I won't try to save you again." I turned my back on him, heading for the door. Over my shoulder I called out, "Have a nice life, however short it may be."

I didn't cry as I collected Caesar from outside, I didn't cry when I heard Leo slam the front door on his way out, and I didn't cry as I stuffed my suitcase with my clothes. The tears only came when I was on the road back into the city with nowhere to go, and then the tears were too strong to even stop.

...
I know that they've only been dating each other for one week but know that they've known each other longer than that and have grown really close. Also notice how they never said they love each other? They have strong feelings for each other and it still sucks for both of them to have to end the only good thing they've had in their life in a long time. So don't criticize they're breakup lmao

***Next update: meh I don't know. School starts on Monday:(***