Chapter 11

The phone rang only once before it was picked up. "Hel--HEY! Get that squirrel out of there!!! No, not blue! Uh ... sorry, what was the question again?"

Mark says, "Um, could I speak to Kayla, please?"

"Sure I'll g--DAMMIT! I said NOT blue. That'll never come out of his fur. I'll get her, hold on."

"I don't want to hold him, you hold him. No, I don't like rodents. Hello? Prudence Nut House, Nurse Kayla speaking."

"Hey, Kayla, it's Mark." Taking a deep breath, he came straight to the point, "I made you a promise last night, and I need you to release me. She needs to know."

There was a long silence, then Kayla said, "Just a second." He heard footsteps, then a door opening and closing, and the background noise faded considerably. "Why?" she demanded.

"Because we just found out how her mother died. She starved to death when she wouldn't leave her father when he was in the mountains, unconscious, with a broken leg. I'm trying to get Kristen to promise not to do that."

Another uncomfortable silence, then Kayla sighed. "Shit."

"Yes," he agreed. "She's refusing. Saying that she'll starve herself if I die for any reason. I need to tell her. Please."

Kayla sighed. "It wouldn't matter, Mark. It's possible that she would leave me for you, even if she loved me, but she wouldn't live for me without you."

"I think she might, Kayla. When I brought up someone loving her, her counter argument is that they would have fallen in love with her knowing how she felt about me. This is the counter to that."

"It doesn't matter. Look, I lied to you the other night. I would have told you eventually, but it hurt and I didn't want to deal with it, so please forgive me."

"About what?"

"You know how you said that there were, like, bits of her tangled up with bits of you and it would hurt both of you to try and untangle them, and I said something like, 'I don't know what it is, could be a lot of things'?"

"Yeah?"

"I lied."

"Okay," Mark said, bewildered. "What is it?"

"See, sometimes people have like, a bond, right from first sight. Like they're just meant to be together, like they each have part of the other in their soul so they're just not whole without their opposite. It's called a lot of things ... true love, soulmates, soulbonded, lifebonded ... but it all means the same thing."

"Ok. And?"

"And," she continued, "hysterical romantics aside, most people don't die if their significant other dies. They might want to for a while, but they grieve, they get over it, they go on with their lives. Soulmates aren't like that. They never get over it. They just hurt and hurt until they die from it."

"Fuck." Mark was silent for a few moments, his mind working frantically. I can feel my bond with Kristen, he thought. No doubt about that, and that explanation feels true, but ... is there any reason she couldn't have the same sort of bond with Kayla? Wouldn't I feel it if she did? Something, anyway? Wait... she would. "Kayla, will you do something for me? Right now? Close your eyes. Try to shut out all outside distractions. Separate what's you from what's not. Tell me what you feel."

"Mark, hon, this is a bad thing to talk about on the phone, but ... look, I'm psychically a dead zone. I don't 'feel' a damned thing, and never will."

"I have trouble believing you, Kayla," he said. "There was a feedback loop last night, you can't be a dead zone. Maybe there's something else interfering, but... " He broke off, on the verge of suggesting that maybe Kristen was bonded to her as well. Better not. If they're not, I wouldn't want to raise her hopes like that. It would be cruel. "But anyway," he continued, a bit awkwardly, "just because Kristen and I are lifebonded doesn't mean there's not hope for you, you know. And I still want to tell her. Maybe it won't help. Maybe nothing can stop her. But ... damn it, I can't not fight the idea with every weapon I have. Could you?"

Kayla sighed. "Got me there. Okay, fine. Go ahead and tell her. Maybe it will help."

"Thank you." He paused again, wishing he had something to say that would actually help. "I mean it, Kayla. Thanks. I'll let you know how it turns out."

"Yeah. Okay," she said sadly. "Later."

"Later." He hung up, and headed back into the living room, where Kristen watched for him silently from the couch.

Mark sat down next to her. "Thank you for trusting me, love. I was getting close to breaking a promise. I had to get permission to tell you something. But I'd like you to do something, first. Close your eyes, and separate out what's you, and what isn't. Can you feel where we're kind of ... tangled up together?"

She frowned and shook her head. "I ... don't know, Mark."

Mark closed his eyes, and tried to 'tug' on her.

Without thinking about it at all, Kristen crawled into his lap.

"Did you feel that?" he asked.

She looked up at him, wide-eyed. "Yes," she said, and lay her head on his shoulder, molding her body as tightly to his as possible.

Steven frowned. "Feel what? What is going on?"

Mark flushed. "Ah ... the only way I can explain it is, well, magic. Give me just a moment, and I'll try to explain. I want to try something first."

Kristen's father nodded, though somewhat reluctantly.

"Thanks." Mark looked back to the girl in his lap. "OK. Can you feel another place that feels like that?"

"Not exactly." She nibbled her lower lip while she thought. "There are ... similar things, I think, but it's all tangled up."

"More than one more place like that?" he asked, surprised.

Kristen looked away. "I ... think so. I can't really tell. Sorry."

"It's okay, love." He hugged her tightly. "I just wanted to know. We have what Kayla calls a lifebond. That's what that tangled up place with us is, and why she looked so sad when I mentioned it."

"Why, is there something wrong with it?" she asked. "It doesn't sound like a bad thing..."

Mark smiled, then kissed her gently. "She's been in love with you for as long as she can remember. She'd be devastated if you let yourself die."

She laughed. "Mark, that's ridiculous."

"Why?"

"I've known Kayla for years, but we've only even been friends these past couple of weeks, really."

"She told me she fell in love with you the first time she saw you. Who do you think gathered the evidence and put that bastard in jail? Why do you think she was so mad at me for hurting you even accidentally? She loves you, Kristen. She made me promise not to tell you because she didn't want you to be confused by it, or hurt because you don't love her back." He paused, then managed a little smile. "I guess I should be honest, and admit that's why we had the conversation we did last night. I didn't want you to feel bad if you realized you did love her."